Asking for a Friend

Posted 9:51pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Campus Support Services

Student life isn’t always easy. For Mental Health and Wellbeing Week, campus-based support services – Student Health and OUSA Student Support – answer your questions with advice on everything from how to manage your workload through burnout or grief, to dealing with flatcest or Read more...

Heavy Breathers Continue to Run (Away From Critic)

Posted 12:47am Monday 29th September 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

The Heavy Breathers completed the Emerson’s Dunedin Marathon on the 14th of September. A marathon is a long way. Pretty tiring stuff. So tiring that they couldn’t be fucked being interviewed about it for this article. Fair enough. The Heavy Breathers began in 2023: 33 boys who raised Read more...

Student Health Continues to Offer Same-Day Appointments Despite Wait-Time Pressures

Posted 10:21pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

Student Health has the massive job of providing healthcare to eighteen thousand students at Otago University. If you don’t have a GP down in Dunedin (practically all of us) you’re going to Student Health for every cough, UTI, Covid test, and sick note. For mental health matters, however, Read more...

The Break You Don’t Take Will Break You

Posted 6:02pm Saturday 26th July 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

It was the second or third week of uni. I was still riding the high of being the first in my whānau to attend university. With three scholarships under my belt, a double degree ahead of me, and a fresh start away from Whangārei, everyone said I was going to do great things – and Read more...

The Heavy Breathers Are Back, Baby

Posted 10:40pm Sunday 18th May 2025 by Tilly Rumball-Smith

In 2023, a group of 33 third-year boys, calling themselves the ‘Heavy Breathers’, raised 100k to support men’s mental health. The Breathers ran the Emerson’s Dunedin Marathon, donating their proceeds to mental health charity Spark That Chat. And for 2025, they’re back. Read more...

Withdrawing from Yourself

Posted 4:58pm Sunday 16th March 2025 by Jordan Irvine

Content warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts I have been taking antidepressants for nearly five years now, and though they’re infamous for their side effects there is just one thing I can’t get over. Weirdly enough, I’ve made my peace with the weight gain, mood swings and Read more...

Icy Plunge Secures $3k for Mental Health Support

Posted 7:45pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Hugh Askerud

A second-year battler has raised $3k for mental health support after swimming in the recent New Zealand Ice Swimming Championships at Alexandra Pool on July 10-13th. Now that’s Dunedin-core. Maddy spoke to Critic Te Ārohi about the struggles of the race and her motivations for taking Read more...

Bitter Cold: The Winter Blues

Posted 3:50pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Nina Brown

Dunedin winters are harsh on bills, the body and the brain. The days shorten, showers lengthen, limbs stiffen, and – in the worst cases – eyes deaden. For freshers cosied up in residential halls, it’s not so bad with free heating and regular hot meals. The bitter bite of winter you Read more...

Editorial: Touch Some Grass

Posted 4:55pm Sunday 21st April 2024 by Nina Brown

We’re all saying it: winter is coming, and with it the winter blues. Soon enough it’ll have all of us in its clutches once more as we wallow in the sunless pit of North Dunedin. There are all kinds of things that are recommended to help you cope. My advice? Just touch some Read more...

Opinion: Rural Communities Should be at the Heart of the Mental Health Discussion

Posted 2:55pm Monday 15th August 2022 by Annabelle Parata Vaughan

It’s no secret that Aotearoa faces a crippling and harrowing mental health crisis. From a young age, you’re told to ‘harden up’ or ‘suck it up’. Did you get hurt playing rugby? Toughen up and get back out there. Upset about something? Shut up and stop complaining, Read more...