MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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25 year milestone for dedicated youth coordinatorJULIA WADE
For over two decades Rodney and Kaipara’s younger residents, many who have experienced difficulties in their lives, have benefited from a youth-focused organisation led by a dedicated local man who knows only too well the ongoing struggle of how not to be defined by a stressful childhood. As North Rodney Blue Light community youth coordinator for 25 years, Shane Gould has helped hundreds of young people enhance their lives by facing the fears and challenges of a troubled upbringing as well as learning outdoor life skills. Designed to inspire, support and challenge children and teenagers, the organisation’s core focus is to boost self-esteem through outdoor challenges including camping, kayaking, mountain biking, air rifles and archery, as well as strengthen the relationship between police and the community. Gould’s lengthy Blue Light career began when he became Wellsford’s youth coordinator in 1995, helping to organise dances for 10 to 14-year-olds around local schools as well as establishing the Wellsford trolley derby. However, he admits to having some doubts at first, wondering if at the age of 39 youth would even want to relate to him. “But my colleague at the time encouraged me by saying ‘this is your job!’“ he says. “Being able to provide younger youth with opportunities and connections with other like organisations… and being able to engage older youth, redirect their energy away from negative activities and giving them a chance of being positively influenced by their peers by providing opportunities for them to mix with others from different backgrounds and experiences, has been most rewarding.” Tough home life Growing up in a small town near Northern NSW with his violent alcoholic father, mother and four siblings, Gould knows first-hand how important positive experiences which support as well as challenge are for children living in abusive and distressing home environments. “There is always uncertainty when you grow up around an alcoholic…. he was a very hard working guy and had some good values and we had some good times,” he says. “But as soon as Dad drank though, he became a different person… he gambled most of his money away and his engineering business went under. I remember being terrified some nights after he had been drinking, sometimes I was so scared I’d sleep under my bed.” Joining a police boys club at age nine, and as a teenager, army cadets and a youth church group led by a surfing pastor, not only served as an escape from Gould’s volatile home situation but also changed the course of his life he says, as playing sport, music and being active outdoors gave him some much-needed encouraging experiences. “It was having a good time without drugs and alcohol, something I wasn’t interested in due to my father,” he says. “That’s what Blue Light is about, showing kids you can enjoy yourself without being under any influence.” Move to New Zealand After leaving school at 16 and working as a Rural Bank loans manager for several years, Gould eventually became an Australian Federal Police officer at age 23, working mainly in protective security and the diplomatic section. However, while stationed outside the Turkish embassy in 1983 he found himself questioning his career choice. “Just one day I started wondering ‘what I was doing here?’” he says. “The reason why I joined the police force was to make a difference somehow, I really wanted to work with young people which police do, but I wasn’t able to do that in my role or immediate career future with the police at that time.” The existential crisis led to a six month break from the police and a move to New Zealand where he married ‘a kiwi girl’, Kristal from Dargaville, whom he met while she was in Canberra on a working holiday. In the early years of marriage, Gould worked in large business managerial roles and had a four year stint helping to reform young people who ‘were heading towards a prison sentence’. In 1989, Gould and friend Robin Lees, a probation officer along with local counsellor Murray Platt, established a residential trust at Waiuku to help young people. “This included taking young men referred by the court on outdoor excursions and setting up a Task Force Green partnership building plastic glass-houses to grow roses and vegetables. This enabled us to employ and train these young adults and those on community service sentences,” he says. “When people are encouraged to step out of their comfort zone it is incredible what they can do.” The programme was so successful that after four years, court referrals to the Trust actually began to decrease. Learn from mistakes Gould believes anyone has the capacity to make mistakes and ‘walk down the wrong path’ but with positive role models, support and guidance on making better choices, ‘we’re all capable of change’. Blue Light’s committee are currently working on the organisations future direction, looking at beginning long-term mentoring of youth leadership skills which will in turn, mentor younger children Gould says. “We are looking for new committee members, and activity volunteers especially, to assist us with the development of the mentoring leadership program and marketing of why we do what we do,” he says. “The African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ means that an entire community of people must interact with children for them to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.” „ Want to be involved? Contact North Rodney Blue Light at 423 8545 or 0274 587 485 or check out nrbl.org.nz. |