Alcohol a solution for mental health issues

[girlgeorgina]

I read the headline and had a serious WTFAF?? moment

I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday campaigner Mike King is defending his claims that “alcohol is the solution for people with mental health issues” and says medical research proving it is linked with suicide is a matter of opinion.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mental-hea...2KWNMIB7Y/

[harm_less]

Just another example of the coalition government not having a clue in respect to where best to spend New Zealanders' money. Like our MPs King is (mis)guided by his own ideologies rather than paying any credence to actual facts and established research.

[king1]

so $24m of taxpayer money going to an organisation that provides free mental health counselling for young people and advocates alcohol as a solution - what could possibly go wrong...

[harm_less]

so  $24m of taxpayer money going to an organisation that provides free mental health counselling for young people and advocates alcohol as a solution - what could possibly go wrong...

So, King's outfit theoretically reduces mental health costs while increasing the coffers of the liquor industry. Sounds like that strategy ticks all of the coalition's usual requisites (i.e. minimising public spending and helping their corporate supporters).

[Lilith7]

Ohhh good grief - alcohol IS a drug, Mike King you plonker!

What a shame; he's done some good work over the years & helped plenty of people. This won't help his credibility.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/517...day-pledge

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I dunno, Lilith. I find my glass of pinot gris in the afternoon delightfully medicinal. And it must be working, I haven't killed anyone for ages...

[Lilith7]

I dunno, Lilith. I find my glass of pinot gris in the afternoon delightfully medicinal. And it must be working, I haven't killed anyone for ages...

Just wait till you need fertiliser for your garden....

[Olive]

I think he's always been a plonker,  but his ill-judged remarks about alcohol seem more like something coming from basic inarticulacy.  More concerning to me was his response that scientific evidence (from a huge sample) was a matter of opinion.   That signals to me that he's a cooker, which fits with his alliance with NZ First, which is now that party of cookers.

[nzoomed]

It appears it was just a poor choice of words, correct me if im wrong, but the way i take it was Mike was implying that Alcohol was a means of self medicating for many suffering from poor mental health, I dont think he would be that stupid to promote the idea that alcohol is a treatment?

[Oh_hunnihunni]

We are awful quick - or maybe the media is awful quick these days, to jump on human error and wave it around with suitably horrified faces. Click baiting...

Just as well I am not any kind of celeb, my face'd be on the news every night because I let something stupid slip out accidently. At least on here I can edit the worst of it out, and in real life, my few friends are well used to just raising an eyebrow or two!

[Lilith7]

It appears it was just a poor choice of words, correct me if im wrong, but the way i take it was Mike was implying that Alcohol was a means of self medicating for many suffering from poor mental health, I dont think he would be that stupid to promote the idea that alcohol is a treatment?

That's what it seems to have been. Apparently, you have to be extremely careful when speaking in public just in case the media get hold of it & give it a wee twist...

[nzoomed]

It appears it was just a poor choice of words, correct me if im wrong, but the way i take it was Mike was implying that Alcohol was a means of self medicating for many suffering from poor mental health, I dont think he would be that stupid to promote the idea that alcohol is a treatment?

That's what it seems to have been. Apparently, you have to be extremely careful when speaking in public just in case the media get hold of it & give it a wee twist...

I think its a classic example of things being cherry picked and taken out of context by the media, probably a bit naive on Mike's part but lesson learned.
You get a better picture when you listen to everything he has to say.
I think they should just leave him alone regardless because he has been highly instrumental in advocating mental health and his charity is doing a great job.
I have a friend who had turned to alcohol but has successfully gone through rehab recently and is now a different person, he had suffered with lots of depression in the past so ive seen first hand what it does to people.

[king1]

it's just a bad look for him, having only recently been given a large amount of government funding for mental health services without proper procurement processes.

I like the work he has done in the mental health space, but less fond of the dubious backhand deal that got him the funding. He should have known better...

[Olive]

We are awful quick - or maybe the media is awful quick these days, to jump on human error and wave it around with suitably horrified faces. Click baiting...

Just as well I am not any kind of celeb, my face'd be on the news every night because I let something stupid slip out accidently. At least on here I can edit the worst of it out, and in real life, my few friends are well used to just raising an eyebrow or two!

That's all very well, but as far as I know you are not presenting yourself as an authority on delicate and complex topic like mental health, nor do you represent an organisation which recently received a taxpayer grant of $24,000.000.00

[Oh_hunnihunni]

True. But those people are human too. Just like us.

[Lilith7]

That's what it seems to have been. Apparently, you have to be extremely careful when speaking in public just in case the media get hold of it & give it a wee twist...

I think its a classic example of things being cherry picked and taken out of context by the media, probably a bit naive on Mike's part but lesson learned.
You get a better picture when you listen to everything he has to say.
I think they should just leave him alone regardless because he has been highly instrumental in advocating mental health and his charity is doing a great job.
I have a friend who had turned to alcohol but has successfully gone through rehab recently and is now a different person, he had suffered with lots of depression in the past so ive seen first hand what it does to people.

I know a tiny bit about it too, a family member's in recovery & has been for some years now.

I think we need far more educatiion on addiction; there are still too many people who don't understand that it isn't a choice, its an illness.

[nzoomed]

These tenants of this rental clearly need to go to rehab.
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