building a community that supports tamariki and whānau in life crises
TRANSCRIPT
building a community that supports tamariki and whānau in life crises
Demographics
Only decile 10 community in Tauranga
2,400 people in <900 homes
30% under 15
37% single parent families
40% Māori
34% no qualifications
Unemployment rate double the national rate
BOP has 5th highest suicide rate in the country
POSITIVE & PROUD Merivale,
Tauranga
o People want to feel safer
o We need to provide opportunity to young people
o We need to enhance support for parents and whānau
o People want to improve our physical environment
Our model to meet these needs:
oConnecting Merivale
oManaaki Mokopuna
oTransition Merivale
POSITIVE & PROUD Findings
What’s going on in Merivale?
o Factors: alcohol, violence & the recession
o Anomie & strain theory
o Affluenza
Manaaki Mokopuna is a rebellion
o we want to grow a community that:
o eschews dysfunctional societal goals & means
o becomes an intentional urban community
[resilience]
POSITIVE & PROUD Manaaki
Mokopuna
Institutional Means
Accept
Cultural Goals
Reject
Conformity Innovation
Ritualism Retreatism
Rebellion
NewMeans
New Goals
Accept Reject
Mertons Deviance Typology
MVL LOCALZ
o Community development = relationship development
o When people feel safe they can engage with services
o Professional boundaries OR relational distancing?
o Increasing specialisation of services
SO, we...
o focus on building relationships and connections with people
(rather than building a client base)
o creatively link people with the services & supports they need
POSITIVE & PROUD Connecting
Merivale
o population-based programmes for depression & alcohol use
o mental health and problem-solving skills
o community-level suicide prevention programmes
o educational programmes for professionals
o integrate & enhance community & primary care
o psychotherapeutic & pharmacotherapeutic treatmentsSuicide Prevention in New ZealandA contemporary perspective:Social explanations for suicide in New ZealandPublished in May 2005 by theMinistry of Health
POSITIVE & PROUD Current
approach
child wellbeing is worse in unequal societies - and despite what many of us fondly imagine to be this country's egalitarian values, we are, thanks to some accelerated widening in incomes between rich and poor in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.Tapu Misa – NZ Herald
The long term solution... is therefore to move beyond the "growth at all costs" economic model to a model that recognizes the real costs and benefits of growth. We can break our addiction to fossil fuels, over-consumption, and the current economic model and create a more sustainable and desirable future that focuses on quality of life rather than merely quantity of consumption. It will not be easy; it will require a new vision, new measures, and new institutions. It will require a redesign of our entire society. But it is not a sacrifice of quality of life to break this addiction. Quite the contrary, it is a sacrifice not to.Robert Costanza
POSITIVE & PROUD It’s the economy
stupidWhy inequality matters