Joanne King and Mike King promote the tour in Waitangi. Source: Facebook
Mental health advocate Mike King is going on a 4000km journey by motor scooter next month as a part of his new I Am Hope tour.
The tour will raise awareness about encouraging openness within communities when people come to seek help when faced with bullying, depression, low self-worth, anxiety or any other mental health issues.
“We’re going to ride from the bottom of the South Island all the way up to the top of the North Island, raising awareness and giving young people in crisis hope that the world is changing,” King said in a video posted to Facebook.
Along the way King and several others will stop at around 45 schools and community halls to talk to more than 20,000 students about how anyone can be the hope someone needs when times are tough.
Kiwi artists, including Grahame Hoete of Ngaiterangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Awa, and Sofia Minson of Ngāti Porou, have painted the campaign scooters - each depicting their own interpretations of the I Am Hope message.
I Am Hope was created by The Key to Life Charitable Trust, a community peer support group, aiming to forever change the way New Zealanders think, act and feel about mental health and suicide.
The tour begins on March 5 in Invercargill and will reach Cape Reinga on Friday 30 March.