This week we welcomed Paula to our team as a Youth Coach supporting our Ākonga Pathway Programme participants for the Wellington and Wairarapa regions.

Paula is a psychologist driven by the possibility of helping others reach their potential. Originally from Mexico, Paula’s experience as a high school human development teacher and career counsellor is the perfect fit for leading our Ākonga Pathway Programme in the Wellington and Wairarapa regions. We are very pleased to have Paula join our team.

Youth Week 2021 – Celebrating our youth and reflecting on the year that has been.

Youth week recognises the contribution youth make to their communities and inspires us to value, support and acknowledge the diversity of young people in our society. Youth week is a nationwide festival of events organised by rangatahi for rangatahi to celebrate their talents and achievements.

Events are normally designed to encourage young people to take on challenges, share ideas and focus on the positive aspects of being young. The week also recognises youth workers, youth service providers and others working with and for young people.

Youth Week is coordinated by Ara Taiohi, with the support of the Ministry of Youth Development – Te Manatū Whakahiato Taiohi. Every year there is a theme, this year’s theme is “We’re Stronger Together”

As a Youth Services provider we celebrate our youth’s diversity, achievements, and talents on a daily basis. However, Youth Week provides us with a fantastic opportunity to reflect and give a shout out to our youth. For this we are going to reflect on some of our highlights from the past year.

 Zoom mentoring, a test of resilience and technology

Our rangatahi weren’t going to let lockdown restrictions stop them from achieving their goals! They rose to the challenge and worked with our mentors as we cycled in and out of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions to achieve most of their goals.

Essential Services Workforce

Our youth who make up part of the essential services workforce were delighted to be able to work throughout the lockdown periods. Being able to continue to bring in a steady income and continue to have some sense of normality was rewarding for our rangatahi.  Many of them were new to their roles and we are so proud of their resilience shown in unprecedented times.

Upskilling to be work-ready

Our youth upskilled in many areas to become work-ready.  Being work-ready mitigates barriers of employment for our clients. Examples of what our rangatahi achieved are:

• First Aid Certification.
• Certificate of Approval
• Food Hygiene Certification
• Barista Certification
• Bar Managers licence
• Drivers Licences,
• Site Safe Certificates and more!

Jobs and Study 

Our clients gained employment in many industries which include Hospitality, Customer Services, Healthcare, Factory, Logistics, Government, Horticulture, Construction, Food Preparation, Retail and much more.

Our clients that moved into study chose various industries to study which included Healthcare, Information Technology, Videography, Engineering, Construction, Design, Caregiving, Childcare and more.

Whilst it would be amazing to showcase each of our client’s achievements over the past year, we are limited to showing you a wee snippet. We would like to congratulate all our past and current clients on what they have achieved with and without us.

Youth week also acknowledges the work of our Youth Workers and we would like to thank our amazing team of Youth Coaches.  Each and everyone of you work extremely hard to ensure our clients are upskilled with a toolbox of skills that enables them to go on to lead safe, healthy, and happy lives.

There is one final element of “We’re Stronger Together” that we are yet to acknowledge and that is our working relationships with the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Youth Development, the New Zealand Defence Force and everyone else in between.  Thank you, everyone plays a crucial part in ensuring our clients go on to achieve.

Youth Week only rolls around once year, it has been great to look back on the year that was and celebrate the successes of our clients.  We look forward to singing the praises of our clients in 2022.

This week we welcomed Riini to our team as a Youth Coach supporting our Ākonga Pathway Programme participants for the Waikato. Riini is a passionate and experienced leader and mentor with life experience of overcoming struggles and transformative change. She’s friendly and driven individual with expertise in developing character and leadership of young people and their families. She enjoys functional fitness training, seafood, playing cards and being in the country with her family. Riini holds a diploma in Whanau Ora and has extensive experience working at the coalface with families in the community, dedicating her time empowering people to enjoy success in all areas of their lives.  We are very pleased to have Rinni join our team.