Cigna New Zealand has announced its campaign, Small Changes Whānau Challenge, has been a success among Kiwi families from over 150 schools around the country.
Partnering with Life Education Trust, the campaign was rolled out across New Zealand classrooms in May this year to shine a light on students’ health and wellbeing and combat rising mental health issues amongst 9-12 year old children (see: Cigna Co-Launches Children’s Mental Health Initiative…).
The campaign proved to be well received by students, their parents and their teachers, with 14,000 packs distributed and 167 schools visited.
The campaign involved daily rituals including:
- Connecting with each other
- Moving each day
- Nourishing your body
- Appreciating yourself and others
The challenge was developed in response to Life Education Trust’s survey of children aged 9-12 across the country which showed bullying is common and that sadness and stress are emerging challenges for kids. However, the survey also found 90 percent of children either ‘loved’ or ‘liked’ spending time with their whānau.
The activity packs supported classroom learning and encouraged families to use the interactive Small Changes website to browse lots of family activity ideas to take time together to focus on their health and wellbeing.
A teacher from Taranaki’s Oakura Primary School said the school gave out the pack as homework and received lots of positive comments from the students.
“We asked our students to choose activities to take part in at home with their family and discuss other ways they could improve their health and wellbeing, they then shared their ideas in class. It was a great resource.”
Cigna New Zealand Chief Marketing Officer, Vince Warnock, says Cigna is pleased to see so many families across the country took part in the challenge and made positive changes to their day-to-day lives.
“Taking care of New Zealanders is at the heart of what we do here at Cigna and we are so proud to have partnered with Life Education Trust on such a meaningful campaign that we hope will have a lasting impact on their whole person health.”
Kate Mounter and her family from Kaikohe in Northland won the $2,500 travel voucher that was offered as a prize to encourage families to register online and take part in the challenge.
“I put the challenge calendar on our fridge, so it was visible for us all to see, plus the stickers made the boys curious about it, so they were all over it!” said Mounter. “The whole experience has really made me see that it doesn’t matter what you do as a family, it really is just about spending the time together.
“Our boys have never travelled further south than Auckland, so we are looking forward to using our amazing prize to show them more of our incredible country,” she said.