Recovery Roundup #24

Kia ora koutou

Buller Recovery bring to you issue #24 of Recovery Roundup.

This week we provide updates on:

Karamea roading – Affected by bank slips due to the February severe weather event experienced in the Buller Region.

Steering Group – Media release and minutes from March meetings.

We would also like to acknowledge mental health challenges that people may still be dealing with as a result of trauma following the flood events, and offer some resources in support of wellbeing for both children and adults, (more information further below):

MH101 – A mental health workshop aiming to increase awareness of mental health states, and how to relate to and support people struggling with mental health challenges. This workshop will be held on the 21st April, 9am – 4.30pm. Members of our community are invited to attend, pre-booking is essential.

Exercises for children dealing with stress and anxiety – Michael Hempseed, a TedX speaker and author who has written books on the human impacts of disasters and mental health, ran a workshop last week with local school teachers and support staff around recognising and understanding distress and anxiety in children. Sparklers.org have some great resources in support of this initiative.

Five Ways to Wellbeing – You might have noticed some colorful stones around painted with quotes of encouragement and support. This project was inspired by the Mental Health Foundation’s Five Ways to Wellbeing, with focus on paying more attention to the present moment and taking notice. We’ve included a few pictures in this weeks Recovery Roundup.

For further details and all other updates this week, read more below.

Ngā mihi, have a great weekend!

Did you miss last weeks update? Catch up on all the news here.

STEERING GROUP UPDATE

The Buller Recovery Steering Group held it’s regular meeting on April 1st. Key points from the meeting are summarised in a media statement (April 4th), including an overview of the Buller District Council Tranche 2 funding application, read more.

Minutes from Steering Group meetings in March are available on the Steering Group page of this website.

TAKE NOTICE, ME ARO TONU

If you’ve been out and about enjoying some of our walking tracks in and around Westport over summer, you might have noticed some beautifully decorated stones offering messages of support and encouragement dotted along the way.

This creative initiative was inspired by the Mental Health Foundation’s Five Ways to Wellbeing.

Taking notice and paying more attention to the present moment, is one of the five ways to wellbeing.

Time, words, and learning have been given to decorate the stones with different quotes and phrases and place them around Westport area for people to take notice.

Last month another 40 stones with messages of support, wellbeing and kindness were placed around the Westport township, Northern Buller and Cape Foulwind, with the hope of inspiring a sense of support and encouragement for members of our community.

Remember the simple things that give you joy – me aro tonu ki ngā mea māmā noa i ngākau harikoa ai koe.

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KARAMEA ROADING UPDATE

Following the impact on the road network from the heavy rain events in February, a total of 51 Defect sites were recorded and inspected on the Karamea Bluffs sections alone (there were more across the rest of the District with >113 in total). These sites have ranged from general clearing work and blocked culverts to large slumps with developed upper catchment debris flows in some cases mobilising significant amounts of material.

WestReef, and their sub-contractors, have been undertaking clearing work, unblocking culverts , removing spoil and slip material from the road completing this phase of the work in March.

At this stage there is only one significant site being worked on the Karamea Highway that previously had the hour long delay; this being the stabilisation work undertaken on the slump failure at the Seven Sisters corners. It has resulted in the loss of one lane, but traffic is now able to pass through the site under a one-way traffic control system with automated lights. The work to stabilise this site is going well for now; with preliminary works due to be completed before the 15^th April (Easter break).

Travellers may experience wait times of ten minutes at certain points. For planning purposes travellers should allow for an additional 30 minutes to their general travel time between Westport and Karamea. Mobile operations such as the drilling rigs will use stop/go operatives within a traffic management plan set up.

MH101® – Mental health workshop

Buller District Council, West Coast District Health Board and Primary Health Organisation invite members of Westport community to attend a free full-day mental health training course. MH101 – brought to you by Blueprint for Learning with the support of funding from the Ministry of Health.

This course covers:

Stress & wellbeing
Trauma & suicide
Building connections & sharing concerns
When & where to get help when dealing with mental health challenges

Attendees will be given a workbook to keep including information covered in the workshop as a future reference guide, as well as additional information and resources.

Blueprint for learning workshops use first-rate adult education principles to encourage development of skills to help others who need it most. This course fundamentally aims to teach awareness of mental health states, and how to relate to and support people struggling with mental health challenges.

For more information about this workshop and to register, please see the following link >> https://blueprint.arlo.co/courses/4-mh101?e=76310e8c3e20473abf23322a77746de1

Exercises for children dealing with anxiety and distress

Michael Hempseed, a TedX speaker and author who has written books on the human impacts of disasters and mental health, ran a workshop last week with local school teachers and support staff around recognising and understanding distress and anxiety in children.

“Anxiety can be a really challenging problem for parents and teachers. Many parents and teachers feel overwhelmed when they are confronted with highly anxious and distressed children” Says Michael.

In this evidence-based class, participants learned about the science of anxiety, what happens to the brain and body when someone experiences it, why anxious children are unable to learn in school, and many techniques and strategies to address it.

Some great suggestions to help children overcome anxiety can be found on the Sparklers website, A favorite is Tummy Breathing: https://sparklers.org.nz/parenting/sparklers-home-tummy-breathing/

https://www.facebook.com/SparklersNZ/