Tolerance, understanding keep hopes afloat

Staff and clients of a group wanting to set up a community village in Tikipunga that will house mental health patients have pleaded for tolerance and understanding from locals opposing the plan.
Northcare Trust, which works with people who have mental health problems, wants to establish the 4.4-hectare, 130-bed ``community care village'' on the corner of Corks Rd and Vinegar Hill Rd, Tikipunga.
Many Tikipunga residents have expressed concerns about the village, fearing it could compromise their safety or the safety of children attending four nearby schools.
Submissions on the plan close on December 13.
Valerie Miscewski started using Northcare's services as a client two years ago and now works for the organisation helping other people who have mental health issues.
Ms Miscewski said Northcare was outstanding in its support and it helped that many of the trust's workers have been mental health service consumers.
Residents had nothing to fear from the people who would live in the village, if it got the go-ahead, she said. If anything the village would make the community safer as all the clients would be in one place, with trained and experienced staff on site at all times to work with them.
"The community support workers are invaluable (to helping the clients live in the community) and one of the purposes of the village is to have all those services to help and support the clients in one place," she said.
"I think (the residents) shouldn't think of the village as a problem, but as a solution."
Fellow Northcare worker and client Clayton Mansfield said fear of the unknown might be behind some of the concerns, but he wanted to allay those fears and asked for tolerance and understanding in return.
Mr Mansfield, who started using Northcare's services about 10 months ago, before getting a job with the organisation, said a mental illness was not always obvious and was one of the things that scared people when mental health issues came up.
"There's general ignorance of what mental illness really means. It's almost an essential part of this job to have some insight into what mental illness is and I don't think anybody has anything to fear about (the village)," he said. "There has been a dearth in Northland of organisations looking after mental health clients and this will look after people in an intensive, productive way and that has to be safer for the community than anything we have now.
"Often people like this are living under a bridge or in caravan parks with little or no supervision, but (the village's residents) will have a lot of support and services available to them.
"If there are residents who have concerns get in touch with me or Valerie and we will talk."