Wikitoria Kurene has joined the Suicide Prevention and Postvention Team (SP&P) for her 130 hour student internship based as Pegasus Health Team, where she will be with us one to two days a week until November 2022.
She has recently finished her first year in her Applied Science Degree majoring in Health Promotion at Ara Institute of Technology. Prior to starting with SP&P Wiki has been working with the Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation (MIHI) Māori vaccination team.
“I jumped at the opportunity to join the Pegasus Health Team for placement as it focused on areas that were relevant to health promotion and areas I am personally interested in,” says Wiki.
“I chose to work within the Suicide Prevention and Postvention space as I felt a pull to learn and understand more in this space and have always felt passionate about people and their wellbeing,” she says.
Team Leader of the Suicide Prevention and Postvention Team, Tim Chainey says it’s great to have Wiki on the team.
“Despite challenges of Omicron, Wiki has joined our hui online, connected with members of the team, and has taken opportunities to learn more about the mahi we do and help with the development and rollout of some suicide prevention initiatives,” says Tim.
Wiki is focused on the voice of those that the SP&P team work with and the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
“Her strong interest and background in health promotion has resonated well with the team and has encouraged us to think about this as another aspect of suicide prevention,” says Tim.
Wiki has enjoyed her placement so far, saying it has confirmed the spaces she would like to be further involved in and how she can utlilise her skills and knowledge further to help others.
“A quote that I think relates well to how my placement is going so far, and what I believe this team represents for me is:
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi,
engari he toa takitini
My strength is not that of one,
but that of many.”
“I am looking forward to the rest of my time with the SP&P team. There are some exciting projects I would love to get stuck into and see where and how they progress in the coming months,” says Wiki.