2021
Rebecca Styles
Project: Rebecca mystery-shopped 14 insurers to find out whether New Zealand’s life, health and income protection insurance policies gave people with mental distress a fair go. Her in-depth investigation was published in Consumer magazine and shared via mainstream media outlets in early 2022.
2020
Oliver Lewis
Project: Oliver published five, long-form articles in Newsroom on the state of some of Aotearoa’s mental health facilities in June 2021. The articles represented views from both people who had used mental health services and those working within them, and sparked further media coverage and calls for an inquiry into mental health units across the country.
Sela Hopgood
Project: A Mother’s Cry is a three-part multimedia series investigating the high rates of Pasifika post-natal distress in New Zealand, and why so few people seek help. The series was published on Radio New Zealand’s online platform and radio networks in 2021.
Angela Barnett
Project: Link Bodies, Like Minds minds is a set of seven, diverse stories about the mental distress experiences surrounding body image. These long-form stories were published on Stuff in 2021 with illustrations by Ruby Jones.
2019
Murphy and Susan Strongman
Project: Here We Are is a nine-article multimedia project about what it’s like to live with mental distress as a trans, gender diverse or non-binary person in Aotearoa New Zealand. It exposes the many forms of discrimination these communities can experience in housing, healthcare and corrections facilities, and how this discrimination can contribute to their mental distress, too.
Tom Reilly and Diego Opatowski
Project: Loko is a seven-part documentary series following the extraordinary tale of one Māori man’s journey from gangs to international fame and back again, including spending time in a mental health unit, becoming homeless and seeking wellness through te ao Māori. The series was released via the New Zealand Herald’s online platform in 2021.
2018
Juliette Sivertsen
Project: Just Listen is a seven-part New Zealand Herald podcast series on how to support someone living with serious and ongoing mental distress. Each episode explores how friends and whānau members have helped their loved ones through tough times.
John Boynton
Project: Māori experiences of NZ’s mental health services is a series exploring Māori experiences with distress. Published on The Hui, the article and video explore te ao Māori views on what experiencing psychosis, seclusion and negating schizophrenia diagnoses can mean and how Māori can recover in a way that works and is relevant for them.
Adam Dudding
Project: Out of My Mind is a seven-part podcast series which shares people’s stories of what it’s like to live with mental distress. The series, which was hosted on stuff.co.nz, won a 2020 Voyager Award for joint Best Episodic/Recurrent Podcast.