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YOUTHLINEFRIENDS OF

IN THIS ISSUE1 BRONWYN NELSON

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

2 SOVEREIGN CHRISTMAS APPEAL

THANKS FUNDERS!

PRIDE 2015

3 COCA-COLA CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK

SUMMER HEALTH CLINIC

RESEARCH HUB UPDATE

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We’re kicking off 2015 with a celebration of some incredible young people. Youthline Auckland Central is lucky to have an Alternative Education School operating from within, which adds an awesome youthful vibe to the building. The school (which provides an alternative for young people who have been let down by the mainstream schooling system) has up to fourteen students, and last year’s class smashed their way through some tough challenges to hit a record number of NCEA credits as a group. Jeremy and I are the Alt Ed teachers, so we get to work alongside these young people every day. We are so proud of our students for all the hard work they have put in, and this was reaffirmed at the end of year Alternative Education Consortium Celebration in November. It was amazing to watch, as time after time, our students were mentioned for the efforts they had made throughout the year.

We followed that with a graduation ceremony - A Night With The Stars - at Youthline Auckland Central for the wider Youthline whanau. One of the benefits of having the school at Youthline is our young people have support from the whole organisation. Youthline staff often pop down to spend time with the students - cook lunch, teach them something new or just hang out and help with whatever’s happening.

Thomas Griffith, one of our Alt Ed students, was awarded the Overall Top Student of the Year Award at the Alternative Education Consortium Celebration as well as Top Student for the Alt Ed 2014 class. It is a massive achievement for a young man who has faced his challenges with great mana to achieve top academic results, and personal growth. Thomas is also to be commended for stepping up by taking up work experience at Puma to work on his customer service skills (which he will need one day when working as a carpenter). In addition to these successes we have three of our students going onto Youth Advisory Group courses this year and another has secured employment.

- Well done to all of our Alt Ed students, we’re looking forward to another awesome year! - Bronwyn Nelson, Head Teacher

YOUTHLINE VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR: JULIE SPRAYWe caught up with Julie Spray to have a chat about being named Volunteer of the Year.

In short, she says the work at Youthline is really rewarding.

“It’s lovely. I always feel like for everything I put in, I get even more out, whether it’s personally, professionally, or socially.”

Julie started as a volunteer five and a half years ago and she describes it as a happy accident - she was just in the right place at the right time.

“I was at a party, and a friend said he was going to do Youthline and I said, okay! I’ll do it too! When I started, I wasn’t sure what I’d got myself into, but I was at a transitional time in my life - quite a difficult time, actually - and I was looking for ‘something else’ to add to my life. It ran alongside me reconstructing my ideas about who I was and what I should be doing.“

It didn’t take long for everyone else to realise what a huge asset Julie is to Youthline. She transcends the many roles that she now holds - co facilitator, mentor, solo counsellor, hub development group representation - with ease and confidence, and her incredible can do attitude is widely noted. She is also now an assessor for the National Certificate of Youth Work at Youthline.

“I love volunteering for Youthline - I honestly do. The hub work is great, but I love how it’s not just the hours you put in on the phone - it’s so much more holistic. If feels like a very safe place, even when it’s been challenging, and there’s always someone who I can talk to or get a hug from. Youthline is my community. My best friends, mentors, and support people are all there. Lucky I went to that party!!”

THANKS HOWICK INTERMEDIATE!

YOUTHLINE CSI

CHRISTINE TAYLOR FOUNDATION

YOUTHLINE SEMINARS

ROUND THE BAYS

SUPPORTERS NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2015 ISSUE 7

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We want to thank our funders, who make the work we do with NZ youth possiblel Auckland Council Local Board Community Trust Albert / Eden l Dragon Community Trust l John Ilott Charitable Trust l

l NZ Community Post l NZ Community Trust l Pegasus Sports Foundation l Sir John Logan Campbell Residuary Trust l

Youthline is seeking volunteers to celebrate Pride at the Auckland Pride Parade on February 21.

Thanks to our Youthline Pride Creative Director, Dayna Cooper, AKA Youthline’s Support Centre Team Leader, and our brand new events truck, we can’t wait to tackle the theme this year: Gods and Monsters.

“It was great to take part in the parade last year,” said Cooper, “but I’m so excited for 2015 to be bigger and better. I love the theme! Hopefully we’ll have a huge contingent marching for Youthline. We actively support the Rainbow Community in Aotearoa in our work and through our partnerships - young people, friends and families. It feels so great to celebrate with that community.”

Once again, Youthline Auckland Central will be home base to the 45+ floats that will make their way down Ponsonby Road at 7:30pm. While the many marchers gather, we will be having a sausage sizzle for all. See you there!

GODS AND MONSTERS - PRIDE 2015 If you are interested in marching with us, BBQing, or if you have facepaint, costumes, or copious amounts of glitter you can part with,

please get in touch with us at donate@youthline.co.nz!

SOVEREIGN 2014 CHRISTMAS APPEAL HELPS HOMELESS YOUNG PEOPLE IN AUCKLANDYouthline was overwhelmed (and incredibly excited) to be the recipient organisation of Sovereign’s Staff Christmas Appeal. The Sovereign staff generously donated hundreds of personal care items in the lead up to Christmas, so we can continue to support the many young homeless people that come into our Auckland Centres every week.

Sovereign’s Head of Community Partnerships, Clark Todd and Chief Officer People and Community, Sharron Botica dropped off a mountain of really useful items at our Auckland Central Centre.

“Sovereign recognises that developing healthy, resilient young people is the key to the future of New Zealand. Our staff are delighted to have been able to make a difference by supporting Youthline with our Christmas Appeal,” Todd said.

As part of the appeal, a group of Youthliners were invited to be part of Sovereign’s end of year get together, where staff came together to celebrate their achievements. This gave us an awesome opportunity to provide background about youth homelessness in NZ, and to give the Sovereign staff a taste of the work that Youthline is involved in. Youthline Auckland Central Manager, Kat Doughty, spoke about Youthline’s work in the community, and gave Sovereign staff some context to youth homelessness in Auckland.

“Research shows that the number of young homeless people has increased significantly. This is backed by the recent street head count by the Auckland City Mission. At the moment, every week a handful of young people come into the Youthline Auckland Central Centre who haven’t got accommodation, and need support from one of our Youth Workers,” said Kat. “Thanks to Sovereign, we will be able to hand out much needed packs of toiletries to young people who come to us.”

Youthline also had the pleasure of introducing Sovereign to Dietrich Soakai and Talia Stanley, two incredible Spoken Word artists from our sister organisation, Action Education. Using Spoken Word, Dietrich and Talia gave the audience some understanding of the thoughts and experiences of young people. About 300 Sovereign staff members were there, and you could have heard a pin drop while Dietrich and Talia performed.

We would like to thank the wonderful staff at Sovereign for their ongoing support. It means so much to us to be able to offer these essential packs to young people.

Check out the cool pics of Youthlines’ Kat Doughty and Jason Pace (Youth Worker) with Clark Todd and Sharron Botica from Sovereign (top); and Youthliners Kat Doughty and Melodie McDonald (bottom).

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THANKS TO OUR AWESOME COCA-COLA CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK VOLUNTEERS!!We were absolutely delighted to have the support of over 400 volunteers at Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park in Auckland. They collected donations and sold merchandise to raise around $26,000 which will support around 800 kiwi youth through our 24/7 Free Youth Helpline.

To everyone who was out on the park alongside us - thank you very much. Whether you were shaking a bucket, selling a Santa hat, firing up the BBQ, handing out chocolate (or just trying to stay out of the rain) - we couldn’t have done it without you!

SUMMER YOUTH HEALTH CLINIC A RESOUNDING SUCCESSYouthline has been collaborating with Health Connections in a project aimed at providing free health services to young people under 25 in Auckland over the summer. The clinic, located at Youthline Auckland Central, ran for 12 weeks on Monday afternoons from November 3 to January 19. It had a registered nurse working under the oversight of a nurse practitioner, providing general health checks, testing, prescriptions and referrals.

Research shows young people tend not to seek health advice, due to the cost, they hoped the problem would go away or get better over time, they didn’t want to make a fuss, or they had limited transport options. An aspect that sets this service apart from other youth health services was the involvement of Youthline’s Youth Workers, who were on hand to provide support accessing the health service, and help mitigate any other barriers that exist.

Of the young people surveyed, 60% were aged 16-18 and 30% were Maori. They rated the clinic as 4 or 5 on a five point scale and said a big draw card was the cost and the support of the Youth Workers. They also said that the nurses gave them more information and were more approachable than the usual “doctor speak”.

Youthline is aware of the barriers that exist for young people accessing health services. Extending our One-Stop-Shop model to include a youth health service has been a long-term goal of Youthline. We’re hoping to build on the success of the clinic to establish an ongoing youth health service, open to all youth in Auckland Central.

NEWS FROM THE RESEARCH HUB: DAVID ANSTISSYou may know of Youthline’s staunch position on the full participation of young people in the decisions that affect them. We recognise that youth hold expertise about their own lives and respect their capacity to apply this. Unfortunately, in research and the promotion of wellbeing, the idea of youth participation often breaks down. Questions like “how do we get young people to listen to our wellbeing messages?” and “how do we change youth?” are common. Research and the promotion of wellbeing rarely arise from young people.

A barrier to full youth participation is adults’ perception of young people as either incapable of, or disinterested in designing and implementing research. I will admit that it can be dry and unexciting, and it is not uncommon for adults to hide when research is mentioned. How then can we expect young people to want to participate? In response, Youthline has been working with the Collaborative Trust to encourage a collective of experts towards a youth participation movement in research and wellbeing promotion. This movement is grounded in questioning the ways in which we approach research. The invitation of young people as participants will bring a greater awareness of the worlds of young people, so we might together create opportunities where young people can engage in research and wellbeing promotion on their own terms. We are looking forward to working alongside Action Education, Youthline’s sister organisation, to educate adults in engaging with youth on young people’s terms.

Watch this space...

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THANKS HOWICK INTERMEDIATE!

CHRISTINE TAYLOR FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HEALTHWe were pleased to meet Barbara Staniforth from Christine Taylor Foundation for Mental Health when she visited our Auckland Central Centre to present a cheque for funding.

This support will go towards a pilot of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills (DBT) programme. DBT skills training will help young people change patterns of behaviour that are not effective, helping them to increase their emotional and cognitive regulation by learning skills to counteract the triggers that lead to undesired behaviour. This programme fills a gap in community services and we are thrilled to have this funding.

Big thanks to Geraldine, Brittany, Aomi, Ruan, Portia, Codi, Leesa and Ben who made and donated these awesome cushions with motivational messages for our Central Deli.

Youthline Auckland CEO Stephen Bell is going to cycle 100km to raise money for Youthline in the REV Cycle Race in Cambridge on February 28.

Bell is a keen cyclist and is looking forward to the challenge of a cycling event.

“My motivation to take up the challenge of being a REV Platinum rider for Youthline reflects a core value of Youthline, which is growth. This is not about getting bigger – it’s about challenging oneself and a belief that growth is a lifelong journey,” he says.

“I have never cycled on a road bike, only hybrids or folding bikes, I’ve never been in a race and I’ve never cycled 100km in one go. I’ve also never been as unfit or as overweight as I am now. So the REV is a personal challenge in which I can grow my fitness, reduce my weight and demonstrate my commitment to the work that Youthline does; changing lives across the country.

He has a fundraising goal of $5000, help him get there by going to https://revcyclerace.everydayhero.com/nz/stephen

AUCKLAND CEO TACKLES CYCLE RACE FOR YOUTHLINE

Working with Pasifika Youth Seminar: February 12th and February 19thAddiction and Other Drugs: February 19th and February 26thUnderstanding & Working with Men & Male Youth: February 26thRisk Assessment: February 27thDepression: March 12th and March 26thMind at Ease - Tools to Relax the Mind: March 12th and March19thAnger Management: March 26th

UPCOMING SEMINARS

Youthline is super excited to take part in The Ports of Auckland Round the Bays for the first time on March 8th! We’re seeking an eclectic team of driven individuals to be Golden Runners and make a difference in the lives of young New Zealanders. You can also raise money for Youthline by being a Community Runner for us. We plan to raise $30,000 which will fund Youthline’s Helpline for two weeks and support 1,000 young people.

We’ll be there for you throughout the entire journey, providing support before, during and after the race. If you want more info, email dominic@youthline.co.nz or go to www.realbuzz.com/microsites/youthline-new

All our seminars are led by trained and experienced facilitators, and are held at Youthline Auckland Central or Youthline Manukau.

If you would like to sign up or need more info, please email supportcentre@youthline.co.nz

PUT YOUR LEGSON THE LINEFOR YOUTHLINE

Need to get in touch? Phone the Funding Team on 09 361 7200 or email donate@youthline.co.nz

Call 0800 37 66 33 or text 234 for Youthline’s Helpline