Auckland New Zealand (Commonwealth Union)_New Zealand has budgeted USD 4 million to help teenagers deal with the mental issues caused by romantic break ups. The Love Better campaign which was launched last week will over three years, work on a strategy to support young people deal with early experiences of love, hurt, break-ups and heartbreak.
A youth for youth campaign being supported by New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development and Employment, the promotional collateral for the campaign includes a video, “Breakups suck”, featuring teenagers who talk about the need to block out their previous relationships and move on. They even call the fact that they find it difficult to get over heartbreak, “ridiculous” and “getting out of hand”, stating they need to sleep at night.
With a tagline that states, “Own the feels”, the campaign has a dedicated helpline which includes a phone line, text messaging and email service. The idea is to instill confidence in young people who go through breakups which most often results in low self-esteem, self-worth and grappling with a mix of emotions most often hard to deal with. Knowing there is help and support will enable teenagers to lean on each other, build self-confidence and have the strength to put the past behind them and move on, while positively impacting their lives so they will not be scarred in future relationships.
In a survey conducted of 1,200, it was found that 68% of the young people who had been in a relationship had bad experiences beyond the normal hurt of merely breaking up. The Ministry revealed that New Zealand’s shameful statistics of family and sexual violence prompts the preemptive task of dealing with mental health issues that arise in formative years.
The police investigate at least 100,000 incidences of family violence annually, while in 2020, of the nearly 9,800 sexual violence incidences reported, 50 per cent who reported the sexual offence were under the age of eighteen.
The Love Better campaign therefore is part of the national solution to eliminate sexual abuse and family violence.
