Health Programs

The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism 2003-2004

Noel O'Hare

Freelance Journalist
Wellington, New Zealand

TOPIC: Publish stories that consider issues affecting the mental health of migrants in New Zealand

Sticky Labels
What's in a name? A lot if it's a label bestowed on you by a psychologist or psychiatrist. If you're diagnosed with a mental disorder, it could have a lasting effect on your career, your personal relationships and your credibility as a citizen. Unlike a physical ailment, which everyone accepts can be cured or controlled, a mental disorder is often seen as a permanent weakness, which may reassert itself again under stress.

The Unfriendly Isles
In August 2002, Louisa Lee tried to kill herself for the eighth time. Since Lee migrated here with her husband and daughter from Hong Kong in the early 1990s, her life has been a well of unhappiness.

Happiness is ...
Instead of catching my usual bus to Misery Place, I'm sometimes tempted to hop on the one to Happy Valley. Though in reality Happy Valley is not a particularly desirable Wellington suburb, with convoys of rubbish trucks trundling through it on the way to the tip, the name conjures up a magical place of great contentment.

Put Yourself in My Shoes
The term "cultural safety" has become such a byword for political correctness that it is often dismissed out of hand. Yet, health professionals who lack cultural competence, to use a broader and less emotive term, are failing some of their most vulnerable patients and not living up to the high standards of their profession.

Sticks and Stones
Some folk wisdom is incredibly stupid. Take the expression "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me".