Mike King, the comedian turned mental health educator, will visit South Canterbury on Monday for a community meet and greet and to promote Gumboot Friday.
King will be joined at 3:30pm by Timaru mental health awareness advocate Michelle Cogger at Number One Shoes on Stafford St in Timaru and then at 4:30pm at The Shearer’s Quarters in Temuka.
Cogger said King’s visit is part of promoting Gumboot Friday, which will be held on November 4 in 2022 before heading to Christchurch and then to the North Island.
King’s Gumboot Friday campaign is raising money to provide free counseling to five- to 24-year-olds, and he’s an ambassador for the suicide prevention charity I Am Hope.
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Cogger, who lost her 27-year-old son Ryan Weaver-Cogger to suicide, has previously… invited King to speak with schools and the wider community in 2017 to lift the taboo around the topic.
King too Visited Timaru in 2020 as part of a nationwide Tractor Trek to raise awareness of Gumboot Friday.
He founded Gumboot Friday because he saw that the biggest problem for young people in need of mental health care was the waiting lists for counseling, which could range from four weeks to six months.
Between 120 and 180 young people die by suicide each year, and an estimated 3,500 more attempt to take their own life, says the charity website I Am Hope.
In the fiscal year 2020/21 there were 11 suspected suicides in the South Canterbury District Health Board areafive more than the previous year, but six less than the 17 confirmed in 2011/12.