Two Tauranga locals have set up a movement named the NZ Gives a Sh!t movement to tackle social issues.

Co-founders Charlie Eggleton and Melanie Bedggood are on a mission to create a space where New Zealanders can feel safe expressing their concerns about social issues. It’s a space where they can be heard and supported.

“NZ Gives a Sh!t is really about creating the conditions for New Zealanders to come together on the things that matter to us,” said Bedggood.

“At the moment there’s a lot of division in the world and I think we’re moving further and further away from focusing on what is important to us.”

Bedggood explained how some of the conversations happening on social media regarding social issues involve extreme views.

She said many people feel things need to change and but don’t know where to start on their own.

Bedggood said the movement is about creating a safe space for people to actually have a say about things that concern them.

Charlie Eggleton and Melanie Bedggood participating in the cold plunge.

The movement all started when Bedggood realised that the mental health services weren’t working.

Bedggood started working in the mental health industry as a frontline clinician in 2008. From there she worked in a range of settings across health and social services and started in leadership in 2012. She became a strategic mental health leader in 2017 after that she left because she believed the system was broken.

“I was part of the team to transform the system, and what I realised, was that what we were doing wasn’t actually doing anything,” said Bedggood.

“So, I stepped away from that to build a new way with a new method.”

Eggleton didn’t come from a background in the mental health industry. However, he’s been a youth worker from 2012 to 2017 where he worked with a wide range of young people including some who had mental health problems.

“From 2017 to 2023 I’ve had more youth advisory roles either helping advise organisations on how to work better or engaging young people, and I helped co-design the New Zealand Red Cross youth engagement strategy in 2019 to 2021,” said Eggleton.

They both have strong backgrounds in mental health, engagement and advocacy and from their previous work in the field they realised that something needed to be done to transform the mental health industry.

In 2022, Bedggood met Eggleton while working at Tauranga City Council. That’s when they started talking about how they wanted to create something that would make real change for New Zealand.

“We started doing some projects at the community level, they were nonprofit projects, and we saw that there was a need for transformation in the nonprofit space,” said Bedggood.

In 2018, Bedggood created a brand called Unity Aotearoa and from there she and Eggleton worked on the movement with the aim to support New Zealand to get to a place where the transformation of these social issues can take place.

In June, together they set up the NZ Gives a Sh!t Movement.

The movement’s first step to creating a sense of togetherness was an event on Father’s Day weekend where everyone was encouraged to take part in a polar plunge, signalling the of coming together and standing up for change, Eggleton explained.

“We’re encouraging people to do the cold plunge in their own local body of water. Whether that’s Mount Main Beach, the ice bucket challenge at home, flicking your shower to cold for 30 seconds, or having a cold bath.”

Eggleton said they have created an online community platform for people to post their cold plunges, and post about what they are going to do to inspire other New Zealanders.

Bedggood said it is a way for individuals and groups to come together. “It’s saying, one, that you actually give a s*** about what’s happening in New Zealand and, two, that we want better for New Zealand.”

“It’s more about inspiring New Zealand rather than a ‘the system sucks’ kind of movement.”

Charlie Eggleton and Melanie Bedggood participating in the cold plunge.

“There’s lots of conversations at the moment that we need to come together, and that the mental health of our population isn’t good enough.”

Bedggood said two of New Zealand’s biggest social issues are suicide and child poverty and it has been this way for decades.

According to annual reports from the Chief Coroner’s Office, in 2022, there were 665 recorded deaths by suicide in New Zealand. This equates to a rate of about 13.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

According to Stats NZ report from June 2023, about 14.3% of children in New Zealand were living in households with income below 50% of the median income threshold, which is a common measure of poverty. Additionally, around 19.6% of children were living in households experiencing material hardship. These figures reflect various aspects of child poverty within New Zealand.

“So, it doesn’t matter what government comes in or goes, these are real problems that we have.”

Beddgood said the first step is to just inspire New Zealand to get behind a movement that is bigger than politics.

“Our hope is that eventually governments, local and central, will actually then come to us to actually fund what matters,” said Bedggood.

“It’s about New Zealanders standing up and saying we’re here, we listen, we care, and that’s really powerful.”

For more information on NZ Gives a Sh!t visit https://www.gdonline.co.nz/pages/nz-gives-a-sht and check out their socials: Instagram: @Unity.Aotearoa, Facebook: UNITY.Aotearoa.

Where to get help:
• Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• 0800 Anxiety Helpline: 0800 269 4389 (0800 ANXIETY). This service is confidential and free of charge. Open 24/7.
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
• Aoake te Rā (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000 053
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.