Monthly Archive for September, 2008

This month we have been very proactive in the community assisting in Street makeovers, more presentations and meeting more politicians. I have also been busy booking keynote speakers for October when we run 237 again. We are blessed to have confirmed this month keynote speakers such as Judge John Walker the new youth court Judge for Porirua, Inspector Lou Alofa in charge of Pacific related matters for Police on a National scale, our current Mayor Jenny Brash and Ken Laban the sports commentator for Sky Sports.

However we are really pleased to have the great Frank Bunce confirm his arrival to present at 237 in October which means it is going to be a fantastic event. In addition to all of this I have been speaking with funders as we all do some of those discussions are in the infancy stage while others are advanced in respect to the submission of proposals.

I have also had meetings with our local Wananga to establish a course for our young people in 2009 to gain qualifications in the social work area and give them credibility to operate as future youth workers this is excellent news.

We have two new youth leaders contracted to work during the programme which has been a tremendous help in easing the pressure of implementing 237 and allowing me the time and space to concentrate on other areas of the programme that need my attention.

I am also looking forward to discovering who the new recipients will be for 2009 and am hopeful that someone from Porirua will make it. I have to say also that I have been getting heaps from my colleagues and young people around having my face plastered all over the country on Bus Stops and newspapers.

My family hadn’t seen any of the bus stops till we went on holiday in Auckland and honest I nearly crashed the car in Queen Streets when we saw one. We as a whole family just cracked up laughing.

But I would just like to say bring on October I am looking forward to it and I will submit my thoughts on how it has gone.

Peace Out from Porirua

This month been nice and cruisey. I’ve had some time to re-couperate and just take time out for me. My focus has continued to be on CANOPY Trusts operations. I’ve taken a lot of time out to attend various meetings to keep myself in the loop and to continue to find ways to work collaboratively with our service providers in South Auckland working with youth.

As a result more new connections have been made and I’m now also part of a youth development steering group set up here in OTARA which looks at ways to help co-ordinate our services and bridge the lines of communication. I’m thoroughly enjoyed this month because it’s been an excellent time of growing in knowledge and fostering closer relationships with other organisations. Meanwhile our youth committee continues to make sure they meet regularly looking at how to better develop up and coming programs and events.

All in all it’s been a real good time for me, volunteers and the youth to take time out and reflect on the first half of the year, access what worked what didn’t and implement needed changes for the rest of the year.

From some of my visits I get interesting ideas - some would work, others not. From a Community Law Office in Manukau came an idea that we apply to the probation service/courts to receive the fine money imposed on offenders from diversion schemes - I didn’t know you could but you can, and it’s a great idea - especially as it’s money coming out of Manukau City, it might as well come back into it.

I spent quite a few hours with Steve Boxer at Edge Lifeskills. He is very well known in our circles and not without reason as the work he is doing is successful and reaches a sector that is almost an undesirable amongst undesirables.

There’s a committed team behind him and also a strong management team around him with support from FYD now, this programme should certainly develop.

Another highlight was being able to sit and chat with Senior Sergeant Andrew Berry out at the Howick Police Station.

Amongst many other things Andrew has founded the Leap Trust which continues to do excellent work in Manukau - I don’t know how some people find the time!

In my travels I’m running into all walks of life from CEO’s to gang members - there’s no doubt they’re different, but not totally.

So many people want to help, I get stopped in the street and asked how, or I get given cards and telephoned or emailed… I hope it doesn’t stop.

Bye…

This month I presented at the Australian Family Therapy Conference in Brisbane, which gave me the opportunity to reflect on the theoretical approaches that underpin the Adolescent Resilience Programme and more importantly the client who inspired the idea.
Jasmine *
Jasmine had been living in Auckland with her mother’s younger sister, Tina for 5 months following allegations of long term sexual abuse by her father. She was referred for therapy when her aunt found she was unable to cope any longer with Jasmines “out of control” behaviour.

Jasmines aunt was sexually abused by the father many years previous, in both cases Jasmines mother denied the abuse had occurred. Jasmine reported that her mother was scared of her father and that he was physically abusive towards her mother and the family pets.

14 year old Jasmine was living far away from her home for the first time, away from her six siblings. In therapy before beginning to talk of the abuse Jasmine talked of her family and the friends she grew up with, her community her sports team or kapa haka group her teachers. Jasmine did not begin with the recollection of her abuse but the story of her displacement her sense of disconnection and in being lost.

Jasmine is Maori and very knowledgeable about her Whakapapa Jasmine is able to trace her ancestors back 5 generation and she was able to bring these people and places into the therapy room. Jasmine knew her iwi, her hapu and her whanau her rivers and her mountains from both parents’ sides of the family.

In therapy she requested that I carefully copy her family tree from a white board or piece of paper in my best writing and memorise the different people and their positions of importance in the family. I would be quizzed as well as on geography and important family land marks.

Jasmine’s ability to hold on to her Whakapapa not only linked her in with the positive side of her family and who she was. It enabled Jasmine to link in with family members in Auckland. Jasmine found out that a member of the school community was related to her through her great grandmother. By this time Jasmine had lived in a number of non Maori foster placements during her first year in Auckland She had became destabilized and her symptoms of anxiety increased Jasmine began to stay weekends with her uncle and his family and eventually moved in, since then her symptoms of distress have dissipated and she is able to discuss the effects of abuse of trust by her father and mother Her new family are able to provide her with further growth in the area of her identity through introduction to other family member and land. This sense of who she was gave Jasmine potency as described by Tal Ben Sahar (1993) as the ability of maintaining ones emotional homeostasis in conditions where other resources lose their effectiveness., potency is an enduring confidence in one’s own capabilities and confidence in and commitment to ones social environment, perceived as basically meaningful order and by reliable and just distribution of rewards.

Jasmine held her sense of family, her ability to teach others and connect them to her family and her sporting ability enabled her to maintain her identity at a time when she was abandoned by all she knew and those who knew her. Whakapapa has a major role to play in the resilience of Maori and their ability to spring back up Joseph Selwyn Te Rito (2007).

* names and details of the family have been changed

This month has been the personal highpoint for my WoD year; I’ve been to the UK on a study tour looking at Health services, Charities and Children Centre’s in England who all offer support services for young families and their children. The trip was generously funded by the Vodafone Foundation as part of my WoD year. So with the support of my colleagues and family who held the fort while I was away I jet set off to the mother land to seek knowledge and inspiration on my mini OE.

My travel took me to London where I connected with three innovative frontline agencies all offering a variety of programmes and services for teen mums and dads. They kindly shared their ideas and practice experience and I’ve come away with many new concepts which could be useful here in Aotearoa.

I also met up with two great New Zealanders making their impact on the professional landscape of London; both Craig and Megan were inspiring. It was amazing to meet two kiwis whose work and passion are influencing effective practice at such strategic levels in an international arena. It was really useful having discussions about the similarities and differences between practices in the UK and at home and I personally challenged myself to assume nothing and inquire about everything.

I left London feeling inspired and confident that our practice in New Zealand was well developed and my new found knowledge could be useful to generate new ways to engage young parents. I experienced Londoners as friendly, robust, committed people who are good at getting on with it - which is very similar to the kiwi work psyche. The whole London experienced amazed me how comfortable I was in this big, happening and mutli-cultural environment.

After London I visited Hastings which is a city situated south of London (kind of at the bottom of England a little to the right). I was really fortune to visit a colleague Tracey, who had visited New Zealand earlier this year on a study tour. In Hastings I met more professionals than I could have ever hoped for -I learnt about their work, how they work together and about the changing environments influencing their practice.

The collaberation between social and health services in Hastings was really impressive. For an area that has a long history of poverty and hardship my impression was that social change was being generated by dedicated professionals and families themselves with a large financial investment from Government.

Now I’m back in New Zealand I’ve to think about - what I saw - my impressions - how this relates to my work and teen parents we work with - and how I can share these with others now I’m back. Personally I have had a trip of a life time, a dream come true. Thanks to everyone who supported my study tour, I have loved learning and being inspired by others.