Mental health crusader passes through Mangawhai

WALK FOR WELLNESS: Annie Chapman at Mangawhai to spread the word.

Annie Chapman worked as a certified yoga and massage therapist then made a sideways move to the mental health sector. It didn’t take her long to realise that it was, as she considered, a system not working. 

This was the basis of her one-woman crusade in the form of a Hikoi covering the north island from 90 Mile Beach to Wellington over a period of six months doing newspaper and radio interviews to highlight the need for an overhaul of the system.

“There appears to be a lot of political naivete attached to mental health based on the pretext that money and drugs are the cure-all. I’m not a conspiracy theorist but research is generally carried out by pharmaceutical companies who, of course, treat their own findings which is a self-fulfilling prophesy,” Annie says. 

There are many different facets to mental health, a number of which are treated with drugs which only serve to suppress, says Annie. Diet, activity and environment are three things proven to have positive effects at considerably lesser cost in not only getting people ‘well’ (a term that is difficult to quantify) but also back into the workforce without ongoing drug dependence.

Annie does not have mental health qualifications so does come in for some criticism for voicing her views, but considers she can be more objective in her views which are borne out of concern that   knowledge and on-going research is what is lacking. Ideally she would like to see an independent political inquiry into current medical treatment of those afflicted in an effort to gain better long-term results.

Not new to tramping and the outdoors, Annie’s path is based on the Te Araroa track criss-crossing largely at her own pace but treading the route from Cape Reinga to Wellington by the end of May. She admits it’s “very pleasant at the moment and life in the north runs at a different pace” and it was certainly a great day to enjoy Mangawhai when met by The Focus, but expects things to change around Taupo and further south. 

Is it monotonous? “No, not really,” she says, adding she enjoys her own company and with the recent fine weather the coastal vista’s are spectacular. 

In the meantime her 15kg pack includes all the neccessities of life including her own 5-star hotel which alternates with backpackers and any other accommodation arranged by organisers, wellwishers or those who choose to tramp a few hours alongside her.

Annie is available for interviews anywhere along her route to promote mental health awareness.