Fri, Oct 8, 2021 9:00 AM
Jonty Dine
It’s been more than a decade since Taryn Beattie tried to take her own life, but it is only in the past few months that she has felt comfortable enough to ask for help.
“When I decided to act, I didn’t want to talk to anyone,” she says. “I was happy I had made that decision and I was leaving my family unburdened. I was doing them a favour.”
Now she is helping spearhead a major fundraising campaign for youth mental health services with Mike King’s I Am Hope programme. This includes next year’s MET for Mental Health Gala which has already raised more than $100,000 and Gumboot Friday which will take place on November 5.
It took a second national lockdown for Taryn, who was living alone and running a business, to reach out for support.
“I called a friend and told her I don’t feel safe in my brain, and I asked her to move in.”
It had been a long journey for Taryn before willing herself to pick up the phone.
“It’s a rollercoaster, a constant battle but now I am able to be quite open about it and ask for help if I need it from my friends or whoever. Whereas before I would have been a closed book.”
Taryn says Covid-19 has been incredibly detrimental to the country’s collective well-being.
“We saw so many of our team members, family and friends commit suicide, the impact on people’s mental health has been huge.”
She says the services available to those in the deepest grips of depression are inadequate.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. People often don’t reach out when they are feeling suicidal, they need help long before that.”
Taryn has recently been trying to find help for a friend having thoughts of ending their life.
“They can’t get appointment for six weeks and every psychiatrist is unavailable until January, that’s an issue.”
Taryn says even in 2021, there is still a serious stigma attached to mental health.
“A lot of people are embarrassed to ask for help or on the other side of that, they ask and then they might get the ‘man up.’
She says as a society we need to address the issue by educating and empowering youth.
“We need to get it into schools, get help accessible and have the finances available for resources.”
To join the ‘Gumboot Army’ go to https://www.gumbootfriday.org.nz/volunteers
To donate auction items for the Gala email taryn@hubbersflooring.co.nz
WHERE TO GET HELP
Depression.org.nz 0800 111 757
Lifeline 0800 543 354
Youthline 0800 376 633