A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A charity has removed a post on social media that promoted false and “distressing” suicide statistics as part of a push to start offering its services in Gisborne.
The post, which made claims that one child a week was dying from suicide on the East Coast, and called for people to share the post and donate to their cause, had received over 6500 likes on Instagram before it was deleted.
Last year eight suicides were recorded in the Tairawhiti region across all age groups, which paled in comparison to claims the post made, Hauora Tairawhiti suicide prevention and postvention coordinator Hineiti “Nate” Monika said.
Ms Monika said she contacted the charity privately on social media and by email but did not receive a reply after comments refuting the claims made by the charity, including from the official Hauora Tairawhiti page, were removed from the post.
The charity's founder said he was not involved with the removal of comments and that they may have been removed because a filter was set up after comments started getting “aggressive”.
Ms Monika said she didn't want to let this “problematic” situation take away from the bigger societal issue of suicide, but the post had been harmful.
“It's adding to distress, particularly for those struggling with their wellbeing.”
The post normalised an incorrect narrative about the suicide rate regionally and they worried that some young people might start accepting the “astronomical exaggeration” as truth, said Ms Monika.
“One life lost is a tragedy for our communities. My role is all about preventing any more loss and wrapping services around whanau affected by suicide.
“Sharing incorrect statistics like this suggests normalising suicide. This is the last thing we need in Tairawhiti.
“It's harmful because it's not preventive.”
The post asked people to share it with their followers and donate to the charity as they started to roll out their work with local police on a project to “inspire children and reduce truancy”, and build a music studio in Gisborne.
The charity's founder said they been been in contact with the Gisborne Police since May. Police had been “very welcoming of the collaboration”. The programme aimed to support youth who are at risk of disengaging from education through a reward programme, he said.
A spokesperson for the New Zealand Police said they have no agreement to create a project with this organisation and did not consent to the use of their logo on the post.
“We have asked the organisation to remove their post since becoming aware of it.”
The charity removed the post after they spoke with the Mental Health Organisation, said its founder.
He said they were presented the statistic by an unnamed local organisation working in the suicide prevention space and immediately wanted to help, believing it to be correct.
“As you can probably understand, if someone reaches out to us about losing one kid a week in a region we deeply care about, we're going to take it seriously and do everything we can.”
He did not want to name the organisation that had reached out because he did not want to “throw them under the bus”.
“We have the best interests at heart. So much so that we take no money (as volunteers).
“This is out of love . . . this is just the start of what we're doing in Gisborne.”
He provided screenshots of previous donations to local Gisborne organisations and schools as part of the charity's work in the past.
The negative responses online had been “puzzling” as they had been working with local organisations for “a few years”, he said.
“Thank you for letting us know about the pushback — with so much positivity we've received it's hard to imagine.”
The charity, which is primarily based in Auckland, has been officially registered through Charities Services since its inception in 2017 and has filed returns for every year of operation.
Ms Monika said she reached out to her extensive network of connections after seeing the post, and no one she spoke to had previously worked with the charity.
She asked that if anyone knows people who have worked with the charity before to please get in touch as she would like to know who they are, as the coordinator of suicide prevention and postvention.
Tuta Ngarimu is a co-founder of the Nati4Life Trust, which works solely in the suicide prevention, intervention and postvention space.
In his nine years working with the organisation, he said he had never heard of the charity.
“The people on the ground know that's (the statistics presented) not true.
“It's really shocking for people to take advantage of Tairawhiti with such a deep kaupapa as suicide.”
Director of the Ministry of Health's Suicide Prevention Office Carla na Nagara said people needed to make sure they were dealing with the facts. The Chief Coroner was the sole authority on real-time data for suspected suicides.
“Speculative comments are distressing for families and communities, triggering for vulnerable people, do not help prevent suicide, and further stretches the people who are working hard to provide support.”
Hauora Tairāwhiti Crisis Team - 0800 243 500 (After 10pm call 06 869 0512) 1737, Need to talk? Call or text 1737 any time of the day to talk to a trained mental health professional
He Waharoa. Phone (06) 8683-550
Women Refuge - Call the free crisis line on 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843
Tairawhiti Police - (06) 831 0700
What's Up – 0800 WHATSUP (942 8787) Phone counselling is available Monday to Friday, midday–11pm and weekends, 3pm–11pm. Online chat is available 7pm–10pm daily for 5–18 year olds.
Kidsline – 0800 KIDSLINE (54 37 54) for young people up to 18 years old. Open 24/7.