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Anglican Care Network

of Agencies, Parishes and Diocesan Social Services in Aotearoa New Zealand

News let te r – I ssue 1 , 2016

May 2016

Anglican Care Nelson Diocese Social Services

Friday 14th October 9.00am – 5.00pm

Saturday 15th October 9.00am – 12.00pm

Guest Speakers:

Alex Penk – CEO Maxim Institute

Ross Davis – BGI Wellington

Dave Mann – HOPE project

Further information –

Gerrie Mead: [email protected]

Conference

Contents In this issue:

Annual Report Summary from the Chair Diocese of Nelson Nelson Conference Refugee Support Manawatu Circles of Support and Accountability The Changing Landscape OCEANS The Selwyn Foundation – Community Housing Telehealthcare Projects supported by Tindall Foundation funding Network Contact List

Is this Church?

mailto:[email protected]




May 2016

Editorial A brief summary of annual report March 2016 - Chair’s Report We did meet three times last year which gave those of us that attended all three meetings a stronger sense of connection. It is understood by all of us how hard it is to attend each meeting. We do need some clarity on our representation.

It is good to look back and enjoy what we did achieve last year. The highlight for me, and I think for all of us that attended, was the visit to Anglican Action in Hamilton. Their work is grounded in this land of Tangata Whenua and whanau. The Powhiri warmly enveloped us and made us part of their family. All the presentations by the staff were filled with the purpose of pursuing justice through service. We were deeply moved by the work of Maree Aldridge the Resident Artist who took us through her installation/photographic Odyssey ‘Letters to a Missing Woman’. I could fill this whole report with quotes from her work but the one that talks loudly to me is:

“It‘s not change but profound radical revolution I crave. An epic homecoming to be made. The great homecoming of belonging to me. Don’t you see? What you’re asking for is far too small. I don’t need change I need an Odyssey.”

We did start to set some goals/questions at our July 2015 meeting last year:

How do we keep church leaders informed?

What are our priorities as ACN and how do we achieve them?

Consider our role in the 3 Tikanga

To re-engage with the issue of Social Justice.

We started to tackle the issue of re-engaging with Social Justice at our March 2016 meeting when we were in conversation with Jolyon White; the social justice enabler from Christchurch. Our task for this year is to make progress with our questions and goals and in particular how do we achieve being Anglican Care Network. Tric Malcolm facilitated our March meeting. Overpage is a summary she made of our conversations working from our purpose Statement to developing our strategic directions. This is a very brief summary of the work we did and the questions we still have to answer. Thank you Tric for your focused facilitation and clear summary As we see when we visit work within the dioceses, Anglicare Care makes a huge contribution to social services in Aotearoa. Our task is to communicate this to each other and church leaders so we know that what we are achieving is indeed expressing the love of Christ through service, justice and equality.* Jan Rogers Chairperson, Anglican Care Network




May 2016

Purpose Statement:

The Anglican Care network of Aotearoa New Zealand is a network of social

service agencies, parish based programmes and inter-church projects which

seek to express the love of Christ through service Justice and equality.

Membership: Each diocese, via their own process, can appoint up to two representatives to

the Anglican Care Network who are mandated to speak on behalf of their

diocese and are actioned with reporting back to their diocese.

Additional participants are welcome to attend network gatherings as appropriate.

The House of Bishops will send a Bishop on their behalf.

Strategic Directions

Networking

Lived experience

And Advocacy

Bi Cultural partnership

To provide a regular

(twice yearly) forum for

members to share

common concerns and

ideas and identify issues

To uphold and

encourage the work of

each diocese.

;To regularly

communicate what is

happening at grass roots

level across the dioceses

Does the Network exist

outside of the meeting

time? If it does, then

how does it?

To be a flow of

information and

conversation with the

House of Bishops

To be an active member of

NZCCSS and recognise

the role they play in

collecting the data and

stories of our sector and

interpreting it

Recognising that justice

and service belong

together and flow in and

out of each other

To initiate a

conversation with our

Tikanga Maori partner

about social services and

justice with the hope of

fostering an ongoing life

giving relationship.




May 2016

Diocese of Nelson ;

Did you know Nelson Diocese extends from Kaikoura in the east to Greymouth and Kumara in the west to the Marlborough Sounds and Golden Bay in the north, in other words all the top of Te Waipounamu? There are 26 parishes and many punch well above their weight to serve those communities in the sometimes remote areas where they are situated. Our Diocese is committed to parish-based ministry so there are no agencies or a central service centre. The business of social services ministry is conducted through its social services trust, the Anglican Care Charitable Trust which meets monthly and it conducts an annual meeting each April to receive accountability reports from all projects and programmes which have received trust funding in the previous year. It is gratifying that a number of partnerships with community agencies have evolved to take advantage of available funding. The fact that we have funds at all, is testament to the amazing generosity of benefactors who had the foresight to invest their legacy in the trust of the Diocese for the purposes of alleviating health or housing related or immediate needs of elderly, young people, children and families. At this meeting held recently a trustee commented that there was a lot going on and that there was much to celebrate. Indeed, it is not until we do look at the ministry as a whole, that we are astounded at and encouraged by the extensive love and care that benefits very many people. Our annual contributions account for close to $400,000.00 per year and this is not counting parishes’ own ministries conducted without trust funds. In order to celebrate, encourage, challenge and resource our lay ministers who are involved in the care of others, we are holding a social services conference in October this year to which Network members are invited. It promises to be a thought-provoking, motivational and happy time of gathering of those who are Jesus’ hands and feet amongst the last, lost and least.

Gerrie Mead, Social Services Enabler, Nelson Diocese




May 2016

Refugee Support Manawatu

NZ Red Cross Palmerston North and the Anglican and Catholic diocese of Wellington and Palmerston North along with ACROSS (Anglican and Catholic Social Services) has been discussing with a number of community organisations and churches ways that we can all assist in the support of refugees and their families as they are welcomed in the Manawatu following on the back of a similarly successful initiative in Wellington. Over the next few years we may see an increasing number of refugees and their families being welcomed and settled in the area. We all know that refugees come with needs: housing, transport, community support, health and very importantly the need for employment. No one organisation can respond to all of this. The Manawatu region is fortunate to have organisations that already do so much. An invitation has been to these various groups to gather all together to discuss the needs, brainstorm solutions, and begin to build a coalition of organisations that support the refugee community and those on the front-line of that support. The discussion has include two presentation from former refugees, information from the NZ Red Cross and the chance to discuss what is already happening and what can happen in the future including further gatherings on; 18 June – Engagement: Manawatu Refugee Voices hosted “Cultural Showcase” as part of World Refugee Day, and in July – Action: A facilitated session to workshop individual and group initiatives.

Graeme Munford Wellington Diocese Representative

http://wn.anglican.org.nz/

http://wn.anglican.org.nz/




May 2016

Circles of Support and Accountability

ANGLICAN ACTION CIRCLES OF SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY A sense of belonging for former offenders, safety for the community

Mission of Anglican Action Circle of Support and Accountability (CoSA):

To reduce the risk of reoffending by supporting people convicted of sexual offences to come back

into the community safely and lead responsible, productive, accountable lives.

What is AACoSA?

A community based approach to reintegration where offenders (core members ) are both supported

by and have accountability to a group of 3 to 6 volunteers.

Circles work to:

Assist the core member to transition back into the community.

Encourage the core member to live a healthier life.

Provide alternatives to harmful patterns of thinking and acting.

Celebrate milestones

Partner with probation and other agencies

Process of a Circle:

Each circle lasts for one year (then it is reviewed) with weekly one or two hour meetings attend by all

AACoSA circle members including the core member.

Stage one: The circle begins by meeting at Anglican Action four times before the core

member is released from prison, or enters the circle.

Stage two: The core member is released to Anglican Action’s Supported

Accommodation, Manaaki Mai for around 90 days. The circle takes place at the

accommodation during this time.

Stage three: the circle starts meeting in the community at a time and place of their

choosing, for the remainder of the life of the circle.

The role of a circle volunteer is to support and help hold the core member accountable

History:

The Circles of Support and Accountability model was created in Canada in 1994 to help sex offenders

successfully reintegrate into society.

In 2014 Anglican Action CoSA was developed from this model to empower and enable men from

prison to be members of society again in a te tiriti o Waitangi context.




May 2016

AACoSA Stories:

“I felt human again, and grateful of AACoSA support”. Core member (ex- offender)

“My circle has been fabulous, their advice, company and assistance has been very much appreciated

and supported me in this adjustment”. Core member (ex - offender)

“I have met a group of caring people who are prepared to accept me regardless of what I have done”

Core member (ex- offender)

“I really enjoy it, being involved, being part of it, the thought of trying to help someone is actually

quite nice and particularly to be able to help someone who probably has even less opportunity than

most people released from prison”. –volunteer

Reflection

We have found that CoSA’s fill the gap that exists between programming inside prison and

compliance and supervision in the community by probation and parole. The gap for high-risk

offenders exists because of one or more of these factors:

lack of support from family or friends;

institutionalized sense of self because of a long term of confinement;

relationship and life skill deficits.

We have seen and found CoSA clearly provides a bridge over these gaps. Some of our core members

offered that they would have been returned to jail without the help of CoSA. Interestingly, many did

not imagine they would commit a new crime, but rather would be returned for violating conditions,

or just “giving up.” So it could be argued that CoSA helps core members abide within their stringent

release conditions. CoSA’s work because of the power of normative and normal relationships in

facilitating desistance from crime. This team approach is beneficial in many ways. The team approach

spreads the burden of time devoted to the core member among all members. In addition, more eyes

on the core member lead to greater accountability and better risk management. Finally, the team

approach reduces the risk of collusion with the core member, and allows all members to keep one

another accountable regarding appropriate roles, obligations, and boundaries.

Through this team approach we continue to believe we are supporting our mantra of Hamilton is a

“safer community “with “no more victims”.




May 2016

The Changing Landscape

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE This article focuses on the very volatile and changing landscape of the social services sector for 2016. Government have announced that their Community Investment strategy will be implemented over the next three years, and that funding to our sector needs to change. It is difficult to understand exactly what this means for Anglican Family Care Centre’s future. We do know that our funding to deliver counselling services in Central Otago will end on 30 June 2016, and that our budget services are being ‘re-designed’, with existing funding ending on 31 October 2016. It is tempting to re-phrase all the government language – ‘modernise’, ‘reprioritise’, ‘review’ – into ‘reduce’ funding. Whatever the result, the future is uncertain. We are concerned that Otago is likely to lose funding to other parts of the country with concentrated areas of need. We continue to respond to requests for support and intervention into the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in our society. This is not changing. We were delighted to learn that the evaluation of the Family Start programme has endorsed the long term effectiveness of our work with newborn babies and their families. We know that we are making a difference, as our clients become more confident in telling their stories of courage and hope in making change as a result of our support. The biggest barrier we face is one of ‘poverty’ of the spirit, the hopelessness and despair faced by those who encounter family violence, abuse, addictions and financial challenges. It is very rewarding to see the growing hope and resilience emerging from our support, as families strengthen their ability to provide safe and nurturing care for their children. Whilst the landscape is forever changing, some things do stay the same. Our commitment to continue to support the most vulnerable children is unwavering. To do so, we must rely on the generosity of our community to maintain the high standards of programmes and services we provide. Elsewhere in this issue you will read of the incredible differences we can make in the lives of those we support. Nicola Taylor Director, Anglican Family Care




May 2016

OCEANS

Support needed in North Otago

Late last year Anglican Family Care was approached by Anglican Care South Canterbury to see if we would consider delivering the OCEANS Grief and Loss Programme in Oamaru. OCEANS is a group programme for children 5-15 years old experiencing grief and loss e.g. resulting from a parent or someone significant in their life dying, through the divorce or separation of their parents or in support of those children transitioning through foster relationships.

Parenting, child and youth behaviour concerns are frequently raised and discussed in North Otago community forums and often the main reason for referral to community agency’s like Strengthening Families. There is also an increasing level of single parents in the district (17.6% of people are separated, divorced or widowed and 12.4% of families in the Waitaki region are one-parent with children families) struggling to provide the much needed support to this group of vulnerable children. Health Professionals state that there are increasing trends of younger clients needing counselling services and support and a widening gap in funded services for necessary earlier intervention. This lack of support to this vulnerable group is well evidenced to correlate to increasing problems with mental health and addictions, drug and alcohol abuse and youth suicide. For the whole of the Southern region the Waitaki district has the highest average suicide rate 13.2 per 100,000 per annum so it’s time we stand up and make a change. With 18% of the Waitaki population under the age of 15 the OCEANS Grief and Loss Programme is designed not only to directly benefit those children but will indirectly improve the lives of the wider family and community providing a more stable and positive outlook for the future. The Programme is a huge success in South Canterbury with many success stories of children learning to talk about their loss or losses. Many come feeling different from others and unsupported, but upon meeting other children with similar feeling associated with their loss they realise they are ‘normal’ and grief is normal in a person's life. Each group is made up of up to six children or young people and they are supported through the programme by two trained and caring Facilitators. At present North Otago has no similar services available, and with the need so great and no government funding available for such work, we are encouraging our community to support Anglican Family Care to deliver this programme. You can support the on-going OCEANS programme by donating online at www.anglicanfamilycare.org.nz

http://anglicanfamilycare.org.nz/




May 2016

The Selwyn Foundation – Community Housing

Selwyn in partnership with Auckland Council to create a new vision for community housing

Following our submission of a detailed proposal to Auckland Council’s Housing for Older People Services, the Foundation was named in December as the council’s preferred community housing partner for its portfolio of homes for older Aucklanders. This involves Selwyn partnering with Auckland Council through a jointly owned company, which will offer long-term security for the Council’s existing social housing tenants. As a community housing provider, the Foundation has been looking at innovative ways to expand our services, so we can help greater numbers of elderly who need the security of a home and who are isolated and struggling. This partnership will allow us to ensure the future of affordable housing, create safe, thriving and age-friendly communities, and provide additional wraparound services for the benefit of those who are in need. Gallaher Court

One of the Foundation’s greatest strengths is the totality of the support we offer older people. As well as housing, we have developed a range of community programmes to address the issues of healthy living, isolation and loneliness. Under the proposed partnership, the following programmes will be available to council tenants – enhancing their lives and communities:

o our Selwyn Centres network of community drop-in venues in 26 parishes across the city; o a ‘navigator’ outreach approach, with trained staff ‘on the ground’ helping people navigate

social services and the health system; o charitable funding to those in need, to help in purchasing one-off items essential to healthy

living; o our dementia day services; o support teams enabling older people to move from independent living to residential care,

when the time comes, guiding people through this process, assisting them with getting assessed and making sure they receive all the subsidies they are eligible for.

Separately, as a registered Community Housing Provider, we also have access to the Government’s Income Related Rent Subsidies scheme which will help reduce tenants’ rents and so alleviate the financial hardship faced by some elders. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with Auckland Council which will allow feasibility work and due diligence to be progressed, with the objective of entering a formal contract mid-year. This would allow services to commence in the second half of 2016.

Alfriston Court, Manuerewa




May 2016

The Selwyn Foundation – Telehealthcare

Telehealthcare pilot for older people promotes health and independence at home During 2015, the Foundation ran a pilot entitled My Health Clinic At Home to test the effectiveness of a telehealthcare service that uses simple touch-screen technology to help older people monitor their health and receive timely healthcare support and advice from the comfort of their own home. Designed to assist people over the age of 65 who have been recently diagnosed with a chronic disease such as airways disease or high blood pressure, the system had been developed to allow older people to gain a better understanding of their health condition and to support them in managing their symptoms at home with a greater degree of confidence. Users monitored their vital signs and assessed their general wellness on a daily basis, with the results then securely transmitted via the Internet to a specially trained telehealth registered nurse for review. The user and the nurse then discussed the results by video conference, deciding on any particular action that may be required to manage the person’s care that day. The programme ran alongside the individual’s existing care provision, with the results sent to their doctor or case manager to assist with their clinical management. The aim of telehealthcare is for older people to be able to take more ownership of - and feel more confident in managing - their health condition at home. New Zealand has a rapidly ageing population that will place an increased strain on the health and aged care sectors. Therefore, new ways of supporting older people that extend the length of time they can stay in their own homes need to be found. Experience overseas demonstrates that telehealthcare helps older people to stay well and healthy at home, maintains their independence and also prevents unnecessary hospital admissions. Such interaction will also aid in early detection and management of health issues and create resilience on the part of users, so that their wellness is maintained for longer. This initiative was developed in association with leading Australian health technology service provider, Feros Care Telehealth Services, who have been successfully delivering telehealthcare for the older population throughout Australia for a number of years. The six-month pilot was evaluated independently on an ongoing basis under the guidance of the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, with the research report due out later in the year.




May 2016

Projects supported by Tindall Foundation grants

Our thanks as always to the Tindall Foundation for supporting the work of Anglican Care Network. Projects supported by the 2015 Tindall Foundation grants include: Auckland City Mission’s Homeless Activity program – this programme offers some of Auckland’s most vulnerable and marginalised residents a space to relax, engage in positive social interactions and gain confidence they need in order to work towards a brighter more independent future. 11 homeless activities organised include a drama club, clay modelling & carving workshops, waiata group, reading/library group, golden oldies, chess and a variety of one-off outings and activities. Wellington Family Centre – contribution to a project aimed at working with Pacific youth to enable them to bring forth their own thinking and solutions to the employment and training crises they are experiencing. Youth forums have been held with young people from Samoa, Tokelau and Cook Islands. Working in gender specific groups within each of the cultural groups and then with them all together has been helpful in bringing forward useful strategies, and the next stage is to identify solutions and put forward examples and innovative pathways to help them engage successfully in employment, education and/or training. Play and Learn –due to change in staff, this activity was slow to restart in 2016. Irregular attendance, with a huge diversity of languages, it isn’t hard to understand why we struggle to communicate with the participants and they also struggle to communicate with each other. The only way to overcome this is to keep teaching them English as a way to communicate with us and each other. It has been a slow process and in contacting the families who need our help we have found many of our participants struggle to get here with their children and no access or funds for transport. Some of our participants have never been able to write in their own language so with new exercise books we are able to help get them started not just learning English but also learning to write for the first time. Papamoa Family Services budgeting advice & support service - We have learned that the housing crisis in the area is significant and effecting many whanau. Rents have increased beyond what people can reasonably afford on the wages received and choices of affordable rentable property are limited. Some have to leave the area to pursue living in a more affordable community, uprooting children and families from established relationships and communities. From this we have learned that in order to reach more families to provide basic financial management skills, and provide a planned approach to reduce debt and make financial decisions we will use the Tindall funds to operate workshops, enabling more people to benefit from the service. Waiwhetu Fruit & Vegetable Co-op operates under the guidance of St Paul’s Anglican Waiwhetu. The aim is to supply quality fruit and vegetables at a reasonable cost to families and individuals in the local area. The customer base is a mix of families who can afford to purchase vegetables plus families who need to extend their food purchasing dollars. Having a stable core of regular customers allows us to develop the low income areas where purchasing patterns could be irregular. The project has increased many family’s fruit & vegetable intake and increased their range of fruit and vegetables regularly consumed. A small growing trend is for work site and community groups to put in a combined order. Leftovers can also be used for marketing initiatives in targeted areas such as a recent promotion to a local housing NZ block of flats.




May 2016

The co op is staffed with volunteers who pack the fruit and vegetables orders. The volunteers were initially sourced from the St Pauls congregation and as the co op has progressed this has increased to approx 50% St Pauls people and 50% local people who hadn’t previously been connected with St Pauls. The mix of people assisting includes recent migrants, under employed youth and middle aged people, young mothers and retirees. Plus a school pupil completing her gold Duke of Edinburgh experience and assists with the evening collection. Although the regional public health provide recipe sheets with the vegetables there is still confusion about how to cook some of the vegetables. Front line staff at collection time are encouraged to discuss cooking tips etc for unusual vegetables. This is an area where we can develop more of a recipe focus in our regular customer emails. This can be aided with the use of the seasonal availability of vegetable guide to anticipate likely vegetable supplies to be able to anticipate vegetable supply & develop recipe ideas. Using social media to promote the start-up of the co – op was an efficient and cost neutral way to promote the co-op. St Mary's Church Glen Innes - Parents do not want parenting courses or set programmes. Parents want to talk about their children and how to support them as parents, parents want to reduce their stress –not add to it! There is huge emphasis on the early years –which is awesome. But there is limited support out there for parents of teenagers and it is really needed in our community. Need to respond to parents in ways that work for them. Huge challenges for parents to create a family supporting income and to ‘be there’ for their family at the same time. Massive changes in Glen Innes around housing which is impacting on everyone in the community. Activities held to date include an overnight hui to explore their role as parents of older children, a workshop in Tamaki focused on raising student achievement (facilitated by Laurayne Tafa –Culture counts). A Workshop was hosted by local parents and 12 of the attendees were local parents –highest level of parent attendance at this training day compared with same workshop held elsewhere in NZ. (April 2016) A co-design challenge with local parents is planned to design parenting activities going forward. (Planning term 1, delivery term 2), a brainwave trust session about teenage brain has been planned for parents and local practitioners. Our experience on this project is indicating that we need to take a strong whanau approach, working with young people and parents in sync. Mens Shed Coordinator based at Linwood Resource Centre, Christchurch. Men’s Sheds are able to give men a place to participate and belong. Some men through physical or mental ill health are unable to find employment and feel excluded from society. This men’s project enables men to contribute as well as receive. We have developed a culture of reciprocity. Up to ten men attend each session; comments from participants have included: “The Shed is useful in the retention of my sanity”, “It is a meeting place for like minded people”, “A sense of achievement among people who are willing to assist”. “It is good to be around the other guys and learn stuff off of them”, “The socialness of the Shed got me out of my cave, now I am building a work shop at home too”, “It is a no-pressure environment”, “A place for conversation, coffee and some good old-fashioned bullshitting”, “It gets me out of the house and that’s a first”, “We get the satisfaction of a job well done…when you see the faces of the kiddies or staff from a place that we have made stuff for, it is really worthwhile.” Men will engage around a project and enjoy “doing” things together. It is harder for men to attend ‘Groups’ Beachaven Family Service play groups and music group. The main impacts and outcomes for our parents and children are that they meet other people in the Papamoa East area and feel more supported. Children learn how to play with other children and how to share etc. The children are exposed to provision of care via a caregiver enabling them to gain confidence and learn to be less




May 2016

dependent on mum so that when they go to kindergarten they are not so anxious, they already know some of the children there and are not so worried about mum not being with them. We get comments from the parents about how much more confident their child is since coming to the group activities that we provide. One mum was really concerned about her little boy and his lack of confidence so we put a few strategies in place, one of them being that if she just stepped away a little she might see that he would cope better than she thought - this is exactly what happened. Parents get to know us and each other, building long lasting relationships. They are really involved in the activities and help out in delivery of the service which heightens their sense of connectedness to the service. This leads on to enabling them to have a voice in the ongoing delivery of the service and how the service can be improved to meet their needs we have recently moved premises and this has been great for visibility. We have learnt that it would be beneficial to have better access to an outdoor area for the children to play in. One of our goals is to source funding to try and improve our outdoor area to enable easier access for outside play. Central Hawkes Bay (CHB) Family Services is a community social service agency that operates in the Waipukurau area. Our primary goal is to provide support and resources for all Central Hawkes Bay at risk children, youth and their Whanau. We run before and after school programmes that help children develop healthy personal habits and the opportunity to learn new skills towards better educational outcomes. Additionally we offer information, advocacy and support for Whanau as well as Tautoko/Social Work support. At the moment a lot of our Whanau are under pressure from WINZ to go back to work. This increases the likelihood of stress in the home and potential violence. A lot of the homes in the local area are rented and have either no/or very little insulation. This is an issue that is raised annually as we approach our colder months, resulting in sick children and Whanau. Parenting programmes are few and far between in this rural area and often involve travel for the Whanau which they either cannot do due to having no transport and/or cannot complete due to Whanau commitments in the home. Providing a service ‘on the doorstep’ from both ourselves and making the centre an available venue for other community agencies is a step towards increase the likelihood of such Whanau developing and/or gaining new skills. The breakfast club is the main ‘feed’ into all of the other programmes offered. Other programs include move2improve and the under 8’s basic food preparation & cooking. Ideas for future programs include day holiday program, Tikanga/te Reo program encouraging identity & safety, Knitting program, gardening, and rongoa herb programme.

ACROSS Te Kotahitanga O Te Wairua - the SPACE programme

has continued at ACROSS, with two programmes being

completed at the end of 2015 and two starting in term one this

year. The Friends for Life programme for 5-12 year olds) for

which funding was sought was also completed at the end of last

year and a new seven week programme with eight children and

their families has just been completed for term one. The

programme is mainly about helping children learn self-

confidence and gain positive social skills and helping parents and

caregivers to understand how they can support their children.

Both programmes although having different aims enable parents and caregivers to have access to support groups which see them getting alongside their children, supported by trained facilitators. Positive engagements in these activities which promote, in turn, positive attachment is the principal




May 2016

outcome sought from these programmes. In a practical way this funding has also assisted in providing a dedicated programme venue from where these programmes can be based. One key learning from this is the potential benefit of creating a ‘parenting hub’ where activities of this type can be offered together. The link also that these programmes have with others of it type is important in ensuring that parents have access to a range of support. The Friends for Life programme for example is one that is being offered by working together with another community organisation in Palmerston North. Co-Ordinator for the Bay of Plenty for Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA). We continue to receive urgent appeals and referrals from men wishing to return to the Bay following their incarceration. We know from evidence and experience that reintegration back to places of origin where there is often family/whanau support, that the transition to successful independence is more likely. In the absence of a reintegration service in the BOP, it is vital that COSA is established to provide both safety and accountability and so the commitment to the establishment of this work must and will be progressed. One of the most significant factors that is impacting on reintegrating men back to their community in the BOP has been the increasing unaffordability of housing. Again, COSA, which is drawn from community volunteers, will hopefully have networks on the ground that may help mitigate some of this impact. Wairau Valley Water tank project -Renwick is an area of Blenheim which routinely suffers water shortages in summer. The tank has been installed with funding from the Tindall Foundation plus Diocesan social services trust. The tank is available for the community gardens (in the church grounds) as well as the community if required Wairau Valley Children’s playground planning - This parish is progressing with the planning for a safe community preschool area. It is beside the community gardens thus enabling parents to use both facilities simultaneously. The area does not have an easily accessible playground and the installation following further fund-raising will provide the community with a facility on the main street. There is a local community market held on the grounds weekly also Stoke parish Pre-schoolers programme equipment - This parish wanted to replace and update their aging hardware for the benefit of their pre-schoolers (and many other) community groups using the church facilities. Stoke is a busy part of nelson and he church provides a great opportunity for the local community to use their facilities Hope House Trust – Young Parents’ group - The group has ‘morphed’ out of the closure of the original Hope House day care and residential programme to support teen Mums. It now runs a co-ordinated group 2 hours per week supported by local community agencies. The programme is currently under review as the attendance has not been great Active promotion of the programme is undertaken with community groups working with young parents by the steering committee, We are aware of the need for supporting young parents in Blenheim because of information gathered from antenatal services eg midwives who are still booking numbers of teens who become pregnant (this is despite national trends which are showing a decline in numbers) OCEANS grief and loss program in Oamaru – this program provides an opportunity for children or young persons who are missing someone in their lives and to share and learn from other children in the group who have suffered a similar loss. The children are supported by caring and trained




May 2016

facilitators over a 9 week period. Positive feedback has been received that the program has given renewed confidence to children and skills to live with the losses and changes in their lives. Foodbank Volunteer Co-ordinator in Christchurch – We still see many who are living in damaged, overcrowded, cold and damp houses, even 5 years after the Christchurch earthquake. Increased rent and power bills are still causing hardship. The number of clients new to the foodbank in 2015 is up 20% on the previous year. There is a definite increase in the number of clients who are in employment, but its low paid. Th3ey are left facing decisions about whether to pay the rent or food/electricity or school lunches…The clients who come to the Foodbank are not looking for a handout; they come looking for a hand up. Many thought they would never end up here. Tom is an example – he recently found full-time work and was proud to be supporting his wife and children. Then he became ill, nothing serious but it required a couple of days off work to recover. Being new to his job, there was no sick leave so Tom came to us for help. They were grateful for the help and we fully expect that as long as Tom’s health is good, we won’t see them back. Wellington’s Drop In Centre and Community Services Advocacy – the drop in centre assists people who are vulnerable and at-risk. As well as shelter, food and shower facilities, the drop-in centre provides community activities, companionship, and a sense of worth, and the opportunity to explore self-improvement and to build a more positive future. We work with people asking for help, identifying their underlying issues, discuss options and possibilities to address these issues and match up accordingly. Our programmes ‘wrap-around’ services work together to enable people to reach self-management and regain their independence. Foot Clinics – Anglican Living, Christchurch – people enjoy social contact, but often need a reason to engage with that, in this case the reason being their need for foot care. Those attending report that they love having a chat, having someone remember small details of their lives (often about a pet). One recent comment from an elderly woman was “I don’t get out much since my husband diesbut this foot clinic has given me a reason to go out”. Statistics of numbers and ages attending and personal conversations obtain the qualitative data to confirm that the service is achieving its aim of helping reduce social isolation among the elderly. Anglican SPACE at St Pauls in the Park, Flat Bush, Auckland - SPACE (Supporting Parents Alongside Children’s education) is a programme aimed at mainly first time parents and their newborn infants aiming to improve the well-being of children, enhance support for parents and contribute to building stronger communities. In 2016 the enquiries about enrolling for our SPACE classes were triple what we had in 2015 and the number of parents regularly attending our weekly SPACE sessions is double what we had last year. 2016 has also seen us engage with an ethnic mix of parents, including Chinese and Indian, which is more representative of the local area. In a recent meeting with the local area coordinator for Plunket she talked of how difficult it can be to engage with parents from these cultures and so this helped validate our thinking that this has been a significant shift for our project. Many of our SPACE participants have little or no family support available to them locally and so they have formed a community of support for one another, both within and outside of the weekly sessions. We have noticed that the circumstance of reduced family support, as well as the increased reliance on the internet/ social media for information, can lead to more isolation of new parents and so it is our desire to do what we can to combat this trend by intentionally seeking to build communities of support among our participants.




May 2016

ANGLICAN CARE NETWORK CONTACT LIST

Auckland

Waikato/Taranaki

Karen Morrison-Hume P O Box 13-117 Hillcrest Hamilton

Ph: 07 856 5820 Fax: 07 856 9823 Cell: 021 750 358

[email protected]

Waiapu

Peter Bassett PO Box 227, Napier 4140

Ph: 06 834 0372 Cell: 021 814 402

[email protected]

Peter O’Brien P O Box 227 Napier

Ph: 06 834 0372 [email protected]

Wellington

Jonathan Boyes 10 Beauchamp Street Tawa Wellington

Ph: 04 2322815 [email protected]

Graeme Munford P O Box 1140 Palmerston North

Ph: 06 356 7486 Cell: 027 631 2222

[email protected]

Tric Malcolm Cell: 0274 634377 [email protected]

Nelson

Gerrie Mead P O Box 100 Nelson

Ph: 03 548 3124 Cell: 021 277 1504

[email protected]

Helen Neame 167 Marama Road RD1 Seddon

Cell: 027 256 4713 [email protected]

Christchurch

Jan Rogers 9 Wilsons Road South Christchurch 8022

Ph: 03 332 7143 Cell: 027 4917 326

[email protected]

Alison Jephson P O Box 26 146 Christchurch 8148

Ph: 03 943 0891 Cell: 027 487 5235

[email protected]

Michael Gorman

P O Box 1032 Christchurch

Ph: 03 365 0635 Cell: 027 432 0443

[email protected]

Dunedin

Shirley Hennessy 12 Ings Avenue St Clair, Dunedin 9012

Ph: 03 455 8298 Fax: 03 455 6809

[email protected]

Nicola Taylor P O Box 5219 Dunedin

Ph: 03 477 0801 Fax: 03 477 0888

[email protected]

Judith Petersen P O Box 7100 Invercargill

Ph: 03 218 2777 Fax: 03 214 0435

[email protected]

Bishops Council

Bishop Ross Bay 8 St Stephens Ave,

Parnell, Auckland Ph: 09 302 7288 Cell: 027 474 1495

[email protected]

Support Officer

Christine Jelley 9 Wilsons Road South Christchurch

Ph: 03 332 7143

[email protected]

















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