Kia ora koutou katoa

The Ministry for Primary Industries’ provides support workers with another tool in their support kits for families affected by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.  ‘The Worry Bug Project’ has been providing story-based mental health resources to families and schools in times of stress and hardship since 2015 and has been researched by Massey University. On our website you will find many support resources for your work with 'The Worry Bug Project' books.

Below we've gathered together the things we think will be most relevant for you to begin, but please feel free to explore the rest of the site if you wish to delve deeper into the project.

​Ngā mihi,
Sarina Dickson & Julie Burgess-Manning
Using Maia &  the Worry Bug- Key points for MPI Support Workers
Using Maia &  the Worry Bug- Key points for families
Family Anxiety Assessment - Sometimes it's useful to get an understanding of where anxiety may be sitting in your family before trying some new strategies. That way you can go back and see the progress you've made.
'Rising Tide' - If you have older children in your family, or you feel your children might respond better to a more sophisticated story you can access 'Rising Tide'. The ebook and audiobook are available on our website here, in english and Te reo Maori.  The exercises are designed for parents or caregivers to use with their families. While aimed mostly at managing anxiety, the exercises are also designed to build emotional intelligence in your family. They are more than a set of techniques, but rather an attempt to change the culture of talking and managing feelings, so that this becomes more comfortable in your family. As with any new thing, it will go better if a trusted adult leads this process for the children. And remember that this is your family; you should choose what to focus on and what to leave behind. 
'Everything is Going to be Alright' - In difficult times we need to learn new strategies for supporting our families, and ourselves. This video is full of wisdom borne of experience, by parents, teachers and children in Canterbury.  

We began by asking our participants about how they protect their own mental health and the mental health of their family members and classes.  They also shared with us their experiences of anxiety, stress and worry and the ways in which they responded differently after the Canterbury Earthquake sequence.

Special thanks to the beautiful and insightful Noah, Aniwa, Nevaeh, Ari, Mia, Lia, Lox, Alex, Grace, Ben and Seraphine. Sarah, Jess, Clint, Michelle, Sarah, Ciaran and Tonya. This project wouldn't have been possible without the generous support of The New Zealand Red Cross.
'Making Everything Alright' - These videos address themes within the Te Whare Tapa Whā model, offering a biopsychosocial approach to managing after disaster or times of significant change. The series references clinical and research based evidence for the techniques discussed and grounds the information in family experiences from the quakes in Canterbury. ‘Making Everything Alright’ is funded by the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust and Kōtuku Creative and is supported by the All Right? Campaign.
1.     Psychological Support
The first film in the series is directed at families or professionals working with families, and looks at psychological ways to manage the two main types of anxiety responses that have shown up in post-disaster populations.   Julie Burgess-Manning interviews Dr Dougal Sutherland, Clinical Psychologist, Victoria University of Wellington.
 Dougal has many years of experience working with child and family mental health, including management of a CAMHS team. He currently manages the clinical practice component of the Clinical Psychology post-graduate Diploma for Victoria University in Wellington.
1.     Physical and Spiritual Support
 The second film looks at using spiritual and self-care techniques as part of your everyday life in order to promote mental health. Julie Burgess-Manning interviews mindfulness teacher, Gestalt therapist and parenting coach Neave Ross-Wallace
 Over the past 25 years she has worked as an early childhood educator, family counsellor, adult educator, parenting coach and mindfulness teacher. More recently Neave has taught mindfulness to over 600 primary school children on behalf of the Mental Health Foundation of NZ and well as teaching the MBSR programme to over 1200 adults to date. ​
​1.     Community Support
The third film examines how community on a wider scale can affect mental health post-disaster. Julie Burgess-Manning interviews Sue Turner, Manager All Right? Social Marketing Wellbeing Campaign, Otautahi
 Sue is the manager of The All Right? Social Marketing Wellbeing Campaign, Otautahi. All Right? is a public health response initiated after the Canterbury Earthquakes, to assess and address the social and mental health needs of the population, post-disaster.
The Worry Bug Project, co-authored by registered psychologist Julie Burgess-Manning and specialist educator Sarina Dickson began as a response to the Canterbury earthquake sequence. A series of books, videos and resources for families and teachers were developed to support children, their families and their schools to move through, and beyond, the effects of natural disaster.
Massey University, led by Dr Benita Stiles-Smith, conducted research into the use of the books and their effectiveness.  Via this research and relationships established by Julie and Sarina within family, school and professional environments common messages of resilience and rebound were recognised. The Worry Bug Project continues to be researched by Massey’s psychology department in order that they can find out what is effective in the way of resources for this population and some of the outcomes from that research have underpinned our continued work.