ROTARY District 9930 governor Kevin Forgeson with Feelings for Life tractor trek presenter Cat Levine at Ōtorohanga South School this week. PHOTO: BRIANNA STEWART
IF the tractors didn’t capture the children’s attention, their presenter’s pink hair did.
In the past week, three King Country schools were visited by the Feelings for Life tractor trek tour, which aims to give children the tools for identifying and talking about their feelings.
The programme is spearheaded by Cat Levine, a mum whose passion for supporting children’s mental wellbeing comes from personal experience.
Pink-haired Cat and blue-bearded co-presenter Willi Henley talked to students at Te Kūiti Primary School on Friday and Waitomo Caves School on Tuesday.
A full contingent was at Ōtorohanga South School on Monday morning, but a health issue for a key member of the team saw the presentation delayed until the following afternoon.
Cat said the tractor trek, supported by Rotary, had multiple purposes.
“One is going and spreading joy.
“The tractors are there for fun, and it ties into my story of growing up in Putaruru and what it was like moving to the city and how that affected my mental health.”
The tractor treks started in 2016 when the group travelled from Bluff to Cape Reinga fundraising for Hospice.
In 2020, they partnered with Mike King and Gumboot Friday delivering the mental health chats in schools.
The effort was affected by Covid, with Ōtorohanga South School one of the schools that missed out two years ago.
Cat said her Think and Be Me programme was based on cognitive behavioural therapy, which she has broken down into kid-friendly concepts including the “worry watchdog” fear response, the “angry dragon” and “cool cat.”
“Kids have a lot of big emotions these days,” Cat said.
“Anxiety is just through the roof.”
The presentation aims to start the conversation around mental health, with fundraising support from Rotary going toward Cat’s aim to get free mental education in schools across the country.
A Rotary global grant has already funded the Te Tai Tokerau Tamariki Mental Wellbeing Project, which will see Cat’s Think and Be Me programme delivered to 60 schools, this year and next.
She said through her own experience as a parent she had seen the struggles children could have with mental health.
She saw it was important for there to be preventative education teaching children the skills and strategies to handle their emotions.
Cat points to the analogy that we don’t need more dentists pulling rotten teeth, we need to teach the kids how to brush their teeth.
“Out of the counselling rooms and into the classroom. Every child deserves to know how to understand their feelings and their feelings aren’t forever.
“Feelings aren’t facts. Feelings come and feelings go and it’s okay to be angry.”
Several resources are available on Cat’s website thinkandbe.me
