Wow! Another huge month at EDEN. The meetings, networking and administration have continued at pace as we respond to the new opportunities provided by the World of Difference award and the increased media exposure. A significant focus in February was providing education, information and training. I have submitted abstracts to present at the Agencies for Nutrition Action conference in May and the Body Matters conference in June. The papers will focus on the concept of body trust and body satisfaction and on the potential dangers of the internet for young people vulnerable to disordered eating. The audiences at both conferences will be health professionals, community agencies, and teachers who work in these areas so these are key opportunities for providing EDEN information to a range of people who might encounter these issues in their work.
As an evidenced-based agency, EDEN also keeps up with the latest relevant research on eating difficulties, prevention, early intervention and health promotion and I have been busy downloading all the relevant journal articles and media coverage on these topics. This is a job that needs to happen once a year to ensure we are up to date but it is a lengthy task! It is well worth the effort however, as this information informs the development of EDEN’s services and provides the rationale for all of our projects and service delivery.
Our new youth worker Deb has settled into EDEN really well and she has been doing some amazing presentations and workshops at schools around Auckland. She has been busy recruiting Body Image Leaders from the schools involved in EDEN’s Body Image Wellbeing programme. These students will act as peer mentors and role models within their schools with the aim of raising awareness of body image issues, making changes in their school environments to support the development of body satisfaction, and involving the whole school in various educational activities.
EDEN has been in the news again this month with an article that ran over two weeks in the Aucklander newspaper. As a result of this the agency has received several queries from people concerned about their own or a loved one’s eating issue. Our support worker Bron has been doing an incredible job of providing support and information to people on the telephone and face to face when they come into EDEN seeking help and advice. This support is run on a self referral basis which we are very proud of. It means that people can access us when they decide they have a problem, rather than needing to be referred or needing to fit some kind of external entry criteria.
EDEN is planning an event for Love Your Body Day on October 17th this year. While it seems a long time away, and the project is still embryonic, we have been getting organised with securing support and brainstorming ideas for a campaign to generate community awareness and to raise funds for EDEN. LYBD is a great opportunity to focus on diversity and body satisfaction and the importance of loving the body you have. Watch this space for updates!
February was spent preparing for our large event at parliament, the Every Child Counts Celebration of Children. The preparations involved securing sponsorship, arranging entertainment, identifying the logistical aspects of the day and managing them, ensuring the participation of as many children and Members of Parliament as possible, developing media material and undertaking media liaison.
While this event was a key focus for the month Every Child Counts also had its Project Team and Steering Group meeting to make plans for the year. I was working on a Fundraising Case Document and communications plan which required input from the team, and in anticipation of the meeting there were briefing papers to prepare.
On 15 February, the UNICEF Innocenti Report was released, with data on the wellbeing of NZ Children in it. Every Child Counts issued a media statement commenting on the report and I undertook media interviews on this and other issues.
This following Month has been hard trying to update database and Networks within the community to see where we can start to offer programs to develop the south Auckland area. I have started some of the Dziah boys off with workshops at schools for this year creating more work for the Dance Tutors through more connection with the kids. Some of these schools are on board with Books and Homes where they go into schools to speak and inspire kids with there own personal stories. This has created a good network for us to build relationships with more schools to help offer our programmes at Dziah Dance studio and also after school programs.
Our Hiphop Programme has started with Breakdancing and Krump Jams twice a week. We are still building numbers and there is a lot of interest. The hardest part is getting the youth to the venue as unfortunately not all of them can get transport there and back. In response to this we are looking at getting funding for a van so that we can go do pick ups and drop offs. Also we need to talk to more parents to gain their trust, bring them over to the studio and introduce them to the crew and explain what we are doing and what we are about.
I have been busy designing more info packs about our Dziah Studio in general and what we are about, so ;we can get that out to parents and schools. Also Resources are limited and working within limited Budgets is difficult, but I always say make do with what you have. We also have some really amazing artwork coming through that would appeal to the youth.
Dziah performed at the Niki Cruz Crusade at Manukau City Velodrome. Niki was a former Gang leader in New York City; he changed around his life and is now inspiring youth to look towards a better future. We were able to talk to a lot of kids and invite them along to our studio after our performance. There were over 10 000 present. It has been a good start to the year with promotion and publicity for the studio and what we offer as we also opened for the Pasifika Festival. I am looking forward to the weeks ahead.
Cheers Billie
Blog time again, wow that went quick! It’s been as busy as ever, especially with our expansion plans. We are actively recruiting for a coordinator in Wellington, getting lots of interest but discovering how high our standards are. A Big Buddy coordinator is the person who does all the key work of interviewing people and matching mentors with fatherless boys. It’s become a faily sophisticated process using lots of psychology and relational work.
I have come to realise the key quality we need in our coordinators is EQ, the new buzzword for emotional intelligence. We use it a lot in engaging with or interviewing people, it’s hard to explain without getting too psychological but its conscious form of “gut feeling” or intuition. I tell you, trying to find men with these qualities is not easy, most of us are happy to stay away from all that scary emotional stuff.
So we continue the search for “our man in Wellington” I have faith we will find him and if it takes time, so be it. I am looking at another branch for Rodney North, ie Warworth/Wellsford, the Police’s Youth Aid man for that area is very keen to have us up there, so we are working on funding and training to make that happen. I’m going to the UK in May mainly to visit the many mentoring agencies there; mentoring is huge and diverse in the UK with significant govt support. I’m also attending the UK national conference on Mentoring and have been asked to run a workshop on how we recruit and screen men.
I’ve title the workshop “A good man is easy to find”. Got an email today from the organisers today saying the workshop is oversubscribed, they had to move it to “the big room” and would I be ok if they increased the numbers? Cool with me! I thought it might touch a nerve, recruiting and screening male mentors is a struggle for many organisations around the world. I think it’s so cool that little old Big Buddy from little old New Zealand will be teaching a bunch of eager Brits how and why we are so succsesfull at recruiting men.
On yes we had our annual Big Buddy Day Out in March, 46 men and boys had a great time on Motuihe Island, swimming, boating, beach BBQ, some boys never came out of the sea, it was a wonderful grounding experience to get how simple it really is, boys and men hanging out and playing.
