Te Whai Trust meeting needs of increasing population

25 April, 2022

With expenditure projected to increase dramatically in 2022/2023 to over double the current per annum budget of $350,000, Te Whai Community Trust Mangawhai is striving to provide for the needs of an increased population in an area with limited social infrastructure.

Hidden away in the Rose Madsen Cottage adjacent to the Mangawhai Domain in Moir St, Te Whai Community Trust offers a range of social services to Mangawhai folk. As Mangawhai has no government department offices such as the Ministry of Social Development, the Trust has taken up those responsibilities in the way that a Citizens Advice Bureau and a range of other organisations do in the major cities like Auckland.

Operating since 2015, Te Whai Trust co-chair Sue Poynter points out that with an increase in Mangawhai’s population comes an increase in the complexity of issues that the community faces.

“As the population grows so do the social challenges,” she says. “Children with developmental delays, parents with relationship issues, children and adults with autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression, households experiencing domestic violence, workplace bullying, financial struggles, addictions, unemployment and so on.

“As towns grow, the emphasis of financial and development contributions very much focuses on the physical infrastructure required to support a growing population, and historically Councils haven’t acknowledged the pressure on social infrastructure. It’s a discussion that needs to be had.”

Board members of the Te Whai Trust are Sue, the other co-chair Donna Flavell, Edward Sundstrum, Lyn Johnston, David McLeish and accountant Helen Price who is treasurer.

Core team members are Wellbeing and Social Services Manager Mary-Anne Boyd, Community Occupational Therapist Susi King, Wellbeing Facilitator Carol Syron, and Projects Manager Kiri Eriwata. All are part time, as are administration assistants, Kylee Newbold and Symon Hunter.

As Mary-Anne Boyd says: “Local services make a huge difference – fuel costs, child care, school pick-ups, caring for an older person, and time off work are all barriers for people expected to travel to Whangarei or Auckland for services.”

Core services include free strengths-based family/whanau service for children, young people and families facing complex challenges, specialist support for children with developmental delay, empowerment support group for women, parenting courses and other family support.

In the nine months to March 2022, Te Whai Trust has received more than 400 referrals and requests for its services, which include more than 50 for counseling in addition to over 200 food or Aroha baskets.

In the last six months Te Whai has seen 160 clients for its range of well-being and social services offerings.

The Trust offers a huge range of services to local people in order to fulfil its mission of being a safe harbour to all those who seek help and advice. It acts as a first point of contact directing people with specific needs to the services they require. But it goes further, and in many instances provides those services such as referrals for counseling and free budgeting advice, assisting grandparents who are full-time caregivers to grandchildren and providing Aroha Baskets (food parcels) to those in need.

Trained professionals offer counseling, life coaching and wellbeing programmes to meet many of life’s challenges such as improving relationships, reducing stress from abuse or trauma and making connections in the community. Options are available for individual, couples or family/whanau in either face to face, clinic or secure on-line platforms. Also offered are tools, tips and courses to support the mental wellbeing of parents, primary school-aged children, teens and young adults, and adults.

A 10-week Te Awatea Course is designed for people wanting to start afresh with knowledge and tools for feeling better, understanding anxiety and depression, managing conflict, setting boundaries and finding joy.

Another very important service in our Covid-ravaged world is the Sage Call Service, a volunteer service that provide free friendly phone calls and messages to anyone living in isolation in the Mangawhai area who would like more company.

With at least 20 grandparents in the Mangawhai area acting as full-time caregivers for their grandchildren, Te Whai convenes a monthly support group to meet and share their experience and advice. The Trust believes it is critically important to support these grandparents who have “stepped up” to provide a stable home for children who are often traumatised and would otherwise be in foster care.

Other services offered by the Trust include:

● Te Whai Sages Senior and Whanau Support which engage community volunteers who provide companionship for seniors and families with young children.

● Driver training for young people that enables them to attain a learner licence and practice with mentor driver lessons.

● A free budget clinic for one-on-one budget advice. This is provided in collaboration with the Warkworth/Wellsford Budget Service.

● Learn Te Reo Maori. The Trust has several classes running weekly. There is a small charge for these classes to cover the cost of tutors.

● Youth group and individual sessions for young people where participants explore creative self-expression through mixed media projects, developing healthy connections and relationships with themselves and other people.

● Employment support. Help with writing a CV, develop new business ideas as well as enabling a strategic approach to improving workplace well-being.

 

With this amazing range of services, Te Whai is principally funded by local donations and applying for grants from a range of sources. It has minor government funding to build capability and support people through Covid. However, it continues to need additional funding and especially sustainable funding to both continue and expand its services.

It costs $3000 per month just to maintain part-time administration, the Cottage and its grounds, power, internet, insurance, fuel, copying and maintenance.

n You can make a one-off or monthly donation or offer sponsorship to a range of services by contacting Te Whai Community Trust Mangawhai by email

info@tewhaicommunitytrust.co.nz, or visiting the website tewhaicommunitytrust.co.nz which confirms charitable trust status and includes the bank account number, or by phone (09) 431 3459 or 021 024 78003.

Te Whai Community House is open from 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday at Rose Madsen Cottage, 73 Moir St, Mangawhai. Postal address: 36 Estuary Drive, Mangawhai Heads, 0505.

 

Te Whai Community Trust core team members. Standing from left, Sue Poynter, Kiri Eriwata, Kylee Newbold, Symon Hunter. Seated, Carol Syron and Mary-Anne Boyd. Absent, community occupational therapist, Susi King. PHOTO/JULIA WADE

 

“As the population grows so do the social challenges.”

– Sue Poynter

 

Range of services to cover community Examples of just some of the sensitive work undertaken by Te Whai Community Trust: · Tragically neglected as a baby by parents with addictions, a young boy missed out on the love and care children need early in life. He was removed from the very unsafe environment to live with his grandparents in Mangawhai when he was four. He struggled at times in primary school and found his recent transition to secondary school an overwhelming experience of bullying, anxiety and new things to adapt to. It’s hard for him to trust people and he’s appreciated the school counsellor, life coaching from Te Whai Community Trust, a holiday camp with Blue Light Police Charity and support from a Te Uri o Hau Rangatahi (Youth) worker. His grandmother finds Te Whai Community Trust’s support group for grandparents caring full time for grandchildren a safe space to share sadness, problems and successes with others who understand. · A ten-year-old boy in Mangawhai is very close to his grandfather who is dying in another part of the country. The grandfather’s Hospice offers counselling to children in these circumstances. That Hospice found Te Whai Community Trust website and connected the family so the boy has a compassionate counsellor and is able to talk confidentially about his joyful granddad memories and his fears and questions about dying, death and grief. · A couple with children aged five and three years and a baby four-weeks-old moved to Mangawhai with no social connections here. The father worked long hours until his work was abruptly interrupted by Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures. Mother experienced post-natal depression, was struggling with the baby and financial issues were pressing. Through Te Whai Community Trust Mangawhai they were able to gain Aroha baskets (food parcels) for several weeks, counselling and connection with a group of mothers with children of similar ages. Te Whai Community Trust helped arrange someone to care for the baby, and the mother was able to participate in a Te Awatea – new dawn course to build resilience and wellbeing, more coping strategies and some social connections.