Bronnie Coory

Ko Bronnie Coory tōku ingoa

I am privileged to be a founding member and the programme coordinator for Mates4Life Hawke’s Bay, a Suicide Awareness and Prevention programme delivered free of charge to workplaces and organisations within Hawke’s Bay. Our Mates4Life programme was developed as we saw the need to address the high suicide rate here
in Te Matua-a-Māui.

While working for a large local employer we saw that by giving our staff the courage and tools to ask someone “are you ok?” and not taking “yes I’m fine” as an answer, our people were able to sit alongside their workmates, listen to them and get them the supports, both internally and externally, that they needed.

By engaging workplaces and organisations in the region, and empowering our people, our objective is to create a suicide-aware community. Upskilling people at work and within organisations helps ensure the learnings are shared with friends, whānau, and communities.

There are so many rewards being involved with this kaupapa. When you have an organisation call to.