For our first blog post we thought we would give you a little more information about us and the inspiration for our name and our logo.
Q. Why Mindfit?
A. The name of our organisation is hopeful, optimistic and positive, reflecting our values, objectives and services. It conveys the attitude of the people who work in this organisation and what we achieve. Our aim is that every New Zealander has the ability to work on, reach and maintain mental fitness. We believe continuing to ‘work out’ and look after our mind is equally as important as working out and looking after our physical bodies. We believe in accessible and affordable healthcare and in creating equal access to mental health support. By making wellbeing services easier to find, we highlight the importance of focusing on individual and collective mental fitness and hope to make it more commonplace as a way to prevent severe mental distress and illness. Mindfit embodies our preventive outlook towards mental illness in New Zealand.
Q. Why did you choose a paper crane as your logo?
A. The use of the paper crane as our logo is hugely significant. In Eastern culture, paper cranes are a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times. Mindfit is built around this hope and the possibility for healing the mind no matter the struggle. The crane has also always been a strong symbol of success and good fortune in Japanese culture, referred to often as the “bird of happiness.” A thousand paper cranes are often given to a person who is seriously ill, to wish for their recovery. Mindfit NZ founder Jess had a friend who used them as a significant source of hope during her mental health journey, folding 1000 paper cranes herself for this reason. Paper cranes then became the perfect symbol for our organisation, our values and our mission.
If you’re interested in learning more about Mindfit NZ, our about page and founder Jess’ interview can provide you with all you need to know!