Heroes of New Zealand — Mental Health Support Workers
We live in an all-round wonderful place. From towering mountains to serene rivers winding through native bush, our country has astounding natural beauty and the communal spirit to match. Heroes of New Zealand aims to not only highlight those members of our communities who go underappreciated but also embody the attitude that makes New Zealand the greatest country in the world.
The term Hero means something different to each person who hears it. For some it conjures images of stoic Greek men fighting monsters, for others it is the soldiers who fought at Gallipoli. But few will think of the workers who make the society we live in possible, the unsung heroes of the modern world. There are many different underappreciated professions, but today we focus on the mental health support workers. These individuals look after those who cannot look after themselves, putting both their physical and mental wellbeing at risk for little reward, and it’s time someone took notice.
Mental health support workers make the mental health system to function smoothly, their primary focus being helping those with disabilities in their day to day life. They support people with a wide range of disabilities from those who are near being able to function on their own to those who will need care for the rest of their lives. Support workers are on the front line, helping people with daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning and allowing them to live their lives to the best of their abilities. This job is not without its risk, however. Each day working as a support worker brings different challenges from being assaulted to having to deal with someone who has soiled themselves. The care the patients require is ongoing and challenging, and those who provide this care must be compassionate and patient.
The type of people who go into the field of mental health are, generalising of course, those who care about their fellow kiwis. They feel compelled to help look after the bottom line. As a nation New Zealand is remarkably bad at looking after our own. We coined the phrase ‘Tall poppy syndrome’ used to describe the cutting down of those who are doing well, and we have one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD, almost five times that of Britain. The exemplary people who work in mental health are not to blame for this as they are the ones trying to help our peers who have fallen on rough times. They get none of the fanfare they deserve, but are crucial in holding together the fabric of our society.
In general, the support professions that we rely on so much do not get the recognition they deserve. Firemen, EMT’s and Garbage men (my bad I meant police) provide us with services we rarely use but are crucial when we need them, and mental health support workers do the same. Imagine if you were to have a brain aneurism. It could happen to anyone, at any time, and will completely derail your life. If you were lucky you would need months of both physical and mental rehabilitation to get some semblance of your life back and the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. The people who would help you through this ordeal are the support workers mentioned in this article. They don’t ask for thanks, hell you’ll not remember half the time they spend with you, but they help you through this tough time nonetheless.
Mahatma Gandhi is often attributed the quote “The measure of a civilisation is how it treats its weakest members” and while he didn’t actually say it (It was some American in the 70’s) the sentiment still rings true. It’s all well and good a country having the best healthcare in the world and a billion-dollar budget surplus, but if these resources are not put to use helping those who need it then can a nation really be called great? Support workers are the embodiment of this sentiment. They do not seek fame, power or money but help people in need out of the goodness of their hearts. While New Zealand has a ways to go on many mental health fronts, these individuals who put the good of others before their own self-interest set an example for how the rest of us should act.
The government has long purported to be focusing on mental health but seem to often put money towards the more flashy things instead of those that matter. This is not a partisan issue, both sides of the aisle are guilty of putting money towards services may not help the most but look good to the public. This is not acceptable. Money is needed in the places the public doesn’t see, from the rehabilitation homes for people who are coming out of mental hospital to the hospitals themselves and this money will make a solid tangible difference in the lives of those who need it. The money will also make a difference in the lives of the support staff by allowing them to do their jobs better and feel more secure in the workplace. New Zealand needs to start caring for her carers.
The world we live in glorifies the lucky. The man who made a billion dollars on horse racing, the student who accidentally discovered penicillin and the investors who made a big bet which paid off are the ones the media focuses on, not the people who actually make a difference. Mental health support workers may not get the most recognition, may not bring in millions of dollars a year and may not be the first people you think of when the word hero is used, but they are the ones who help those who cannot help themselves and for that they deserve our applause.
