Our Mission
WEKA exists to create positive change in physical, family, spiritual and mental wellbeing through passion, knowledge and vision. We strive to see those in need immediately, giving them core skills, information and survival ideas. We believe that a persons desire for support is enough for us to give it.About WEKA
WEKA has been active since 2018, in this time they have run support sessions on a wide array of mental health conditions for both adults and children. These include relapse planning, alcohol and other drugs, medication, carer fatigue, anxiety, depression and routes to well being. All of these sessions have been organised with local whānau stake holders, as WEKA believes a grassroots-level approach to education is what is best.
Sessions are held in local community facilities and have reached out to over 2,000 people in Otago and around the country. Sessions are held either free of charge or for a small koha. Aside fMany more have been supported to complete life altering relapse plans and access other services already established. This has been done as a navigation role. All this has been done with little resources as of yet. Imagine what we could do with money.
About our founder
Meet Matthew.
Matthew Peppercorn is a Mental Health Nurse and Educator with over twenty-five years of experience. He has worked extensively within both the Hospital and NGO sector.
As a consequence of his work he became mentally distressed and experienced the pathway of realisation and discovering a route to wellness himself. Now with his peer knowledge and lived experience he has been able to create a service for people that reflects on his nursing accountability and professionalism. He is focused on relapse planning, safety plan creation and strengths based recovery.
Highlights of his career include working for Stopping Violence Dunedin, writing the Whānau Ora Level 3 course for NZQA and nursing for Pact Dunedin where he successfully engineered a recovery driven number of services.
When Matthew is not at work he parents, enjoys fishing, cycling and gardening. He also is an event organiser, musician and freestyle rapper.