Hey, I’m Christina and I run the Southland Crohn’s and Colitis Support Group.

I live in Gore with 3 cats, a giant dog, and my husband who I was lucky enough to marry earlier this year. I am a graphic designer by trade and love to curl up with a good book.

Southland covers quite a wide area, from Gore through Invercargill, out to Milford Sound/Fiordland and across the straight to Stewart Island.

The Southland Support Group was started in the early 1980’s and Mary Rae had been involved from the beginning. When she decided last year that she would like to take a step back, I put my hand up to take over the running of the group. Mary did an amazing job with around 15 regular members, and I would love to bring us back to having a close group of regulars.

In the recent CCNZ support group survey completed mid last year, a few stated they would like to have a seminar on diet as well as Meditation and Mental Health. This gives us a few ideas for speakers we can invite. The survey also noted most people favoured approx. 3-monthly events so that is what we are aiming towards. However, Covid has certainly been making things difficult!

We have had a few coffee catchups so far in the last year and I am working towards getting a speaker for an in-person event soon. CCNZ has also started organising online larger catchups and events: the recent combined one for all South Island Support Groups was great as we could see what other support groups had been up to and hear stories from others not in our area.

Email Christina for more information about the Southland Support Group on southland@crohnsandcolitis.org.nz