Pip | Kina Beach, Tasman

“I’m very blessed. I’ve got some lovely friends and community around me. My job’s quite a social role, so I do see a lot of the community. I think in comparison to what’s been happening worldwide, New Zealand’s had a lucky escape.

I think a few people have struggled financially, so that can have a bit of a toll on people’s mental wellbeing. I always come from the stance that I don’t want to give people advice, but just sharing your story. I think in our community, maybe the financial thing’s a little bit tricky for people at the moment, just job insecurity, and what’s happening in the rest of the world, and how that affects people’s families and whānau.

I suppose we’ve had people who have lost their jobs around us, and so that’s a tricky time. You’re kind of thinking where to go next, and what avenues to look down. So I think it’s just about having support around you to be able to talk that out and look at different options and start re-thinking where they’re going next. 

There has been someone recently in our friend group looking at new opportunities that might be opening up, having to re-do your CV and all of those sorts of things, and in such a small community what’s available really, at this stage. You know?  Especially Marlborough and Nelson regions, we are quite tourism-based, so it’s looking outside your normal job scope. I always just go back to that same old saying, a problem shared is a problem halved. If you can just get it off your chest, sometimes just saying it out loud, and getting other people’s perspectives. Not their advice, but just their perspective or just actually giving people a chance to talk and tell their story.

I was born in Wellington, and I have quite a big family. So, there’s six of us, and then my partner and I moved down here, and we’ve got two children and I was working at the Kindergarten for a long time, and now I work at the library. I’m loving the change, the new career path that I’m on, and being in the community I meet a lot of diverse people. Motueka has definitely got some cool characters.”