An update by Lead Social Innovator, Joe Wilson
In early 2023, we launched our wellbeing storytelling series Lots of Little Fires (Lots of Little Fires Waikato | Waikato Wellbeing Project). Conceived and created by Joe Wilson in partnership with Muerdach Daly of One-Man Crew, Lots of Little Fires tell the stories of change makers in our communities stepping up to lead positive change, especially for our rangatahi. We shared our first story, Poutama Rites of passage in early 2023 and have now shared eight amazing stories from across the Waikato. These are shared on multiple platforms in addition to our website including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. The response to these has been incredible, with more than 150,000 views on YouTube and our other platforms, along with hundreds of positive comments and messages of support for the people whose stories we share. More importantly, our active advocacy of these stories has started to see wellbeing organisations joining up to fund solutions to some of the challenges shown in the stories, which is exactly what we hoped would happen.
We were super excited and proud that Lots of Little Fires was awarded the Community Research ‘Billie Award’ for Strengths Based Storytelling. We thank all the incredible people and communities who have so vulnerably told their stories and trusted us to share with you all.
For more information contact Joe: joe@waikatowellbeingproject.com