CHAIRPERSON’S ANNUAL REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
Kia Ora Tatou It is my pleasure to be presenting the Chairperson‟s report for the 2008 – 2009 financial year. He aha te mea nui o tea ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! What is the important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people! I have chosen to begin my report this year with this whakatauki for two reasons. Firstly, the work of DOVE Hawkes Bay is fundamentally about the people of Hawkes Bay, about assisting the community to be caring and compassionate in their relationships and their families. And it is also about the strong, talented, resilient and courageous group of people working at DOVE to establish non-violence in Hawkes Bay. What better work can there be, and aren‟t we all fortunate to be able to be part of this mahi!. And the second reason for this whakatauki is that DOVE Hawkes Bay is making small but tangible steps to becoming a truly bi-cultural organisation; an organisation where both peoples of Aotearoa, Maori and Pakeha, can find a sense of belonging and can pursue a path of learning and growth. And alongside this goal, DOVE is also engaging with the Pasifika community to develop a Pasifika Service. It is inspiring to know that DOVE is now expanding its vision to provide a much more inclusive service. And as tangible representation of this vision there are five carvings now hanging on the walls of the DOVE offices. These carvings were completed by the men of the Hawkes Bay Prison and installed in the office in February this year. Each carving has a story and a meaning which directly relates to work of our organisation. If you haven‟t had the opportunity to view these taonga, please do take the time to do this sometime soon. We are honoured to be the guardians of these treasures. DOVE Hawkes Bay has continued to grow over this last year, with increased clients numbers and funding in all of our Government contracts. This has resulted in an improved financial position which will safeguard the future of the organisation. And we have just received confirmation recently that we have been successful in an application to the Community Response Fund to establish another full-time social work position within the Youth Service. As you will see from the accompanying reports, DOVE Hawkes Bay is running men‟s programmes, women‟s programmes and programmes in schools, and is integral to the
collaborative Family Violence response work with Police, Womenâ€&#x;s Refuge, Child Youth & Family and Community Corrections. With this growth, we have had a corresponding growth in staff and I would like to welcome all the new members of our team, both staff members and facilitators. Thank you for your commitment and contribution. This growth in our team has been so marked that we started to wonder if we would outgrow our new premises. But with some innovative wall construction, new offices have been created and staff welfare has been protected. We are proud of the work of our organisation, and proud of the constant efforts to improve the services we provide. Over the past year, the team has worked to develop a new approach to working with clients, an approach which is more holistic, which acknowledges the whole person within their Whanau, and which includes conscious greeting, kai, whanaungatanga. With these changes we have seen the completion rates for clients in the menâ€&#x;s courses improve from just below 50% (which is characteristic across the country) to 85%. A vast improvement! When we see these sorts of improvements, knowing that this means that the clients are appreciating the support that they are receiving, we can feel confident that the organisation is moving in the right direction. AT the AGM held in October 2008 the amended constitution was considered and adopted by the meeting and DOVE Hawkes Bay has been operating under this new structure, with a Governance Board, rather than an Executive Committee. This change has facilitated clarity of roles with the Governance Board focusing on direction and leadership based on the Strategic Plan which was reviewed and updated in February, and the Manager taking responsibility for managing the operations of the organisation. I have enjoyed working with Caroline and I feel very fortunate to have been the chair of a Board of knowledgeable, considerate and skilled people. I extend my appreciation to both the members of the Board and the Manager. I would especially like to acknowledge John McDowell and Maureen Ward. They have both contributed so much to this organisation. Their professionalism and commitment has been appreciated by everyone associated with DOVE Hawkes Bay and we wish them well in their futures. It has been a privilege to be a member of the Board and to be entrusted with the role of Chair. However, I am now at a point in my life where it is appropriate that I step down from this role. I wish DOVE Hawkes Bay every success in the future. Knowing the people who are the heart and soul of DOVE I feel confident that the organisation will go from strength to strength, and the clients and the community will benefit enormously. Kia Kaha Tena koutou tena koutou teno tatou katoa
Jan Crawford Chairperson
MANAGER’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
It gives me great pleasure to write this, my second Annual Report for DOVE Hawkes Bay. I have been managing DOVE since January 2008 and it has been a very busy, interesting and rewarding time. The workload of our organization continues to grow dramatically and there have been a number of significant changes.
20 04 /0 5 20 05 /0 6 20 06 /0 7 20 07 /0 8 20 08 /0 9
DOVE is now well established in Niven Street, as I am in my role as the manager, Increase in Number of Referrals Over and it has been all “Go” for another year! the Past Five Years The most notable increase has been in the 160 number of self-referrals that we have 140 Family Court 120 received for our men‟s Stopping Violence 100 Community programmes. The graph opposite gives a 80 Probation 60 clear indication of this ongoing trend. ongoing Self Referral 40 20 This has put considerable pressure on our 0 organization to deliver programmes for men within a reasonable timeframe following their referral to us. It has meant we have had to run extra programmes and to do this we need a good pool of trained facilitators. We continue to train new facilitators to assist with this workload. There has also been a high number of POL 400s in the Napier and Hastings areas where we work closely with the Police, Child Youth & Family, Community Corrections and the Women‟s Refuges to case manage the families who appear on these reports of Family Violence. In this last year there have been approximately 3,500 POL 400s recorded in the two cities. Again, this puts pressure on our organization to respond to the perpetrators of Family Violence named on the POL400s in a timely and effective manner. DOVE staff attend the weekly Family Violence Response Team [FVRT] meetings in both Napier and Hastings each week and are responsible for contacting perpetrators named on the POL 400s. This is a large body of work and it includes some home visits to men along with the Family Violence Police officers who are part of these teams. DOVE Hawkes Bay is blessed with a dedicated staff team who are absolutely committed to the elimination of Family Violence in our communities within Hawkes Bay. There have been a number of changes in our staff team during this last year. Henare O‟Keefe left us during the year and as a result, Tania Gray was employed early in 2009 to work with Becks as one of our LIVE Hawkes Bay coordinators. Mereana Pitman and Anna Elliott also joined us in March 2009 as the two part-time Advocates for Children and Young People who have witnessed Family Violence. This is a new contract we were awarded in this last year as a result of a successful tender for this work advocating for young people. Mereana had
previously joined the DOVE team to provide Cultural Supervision for our staff and to work with individual men clients. Another new area of contracted work that has begun this year is the Pacific Island Family Violence service and we have been pleased to welcome Uilelea Uilelea to our staff to work with Pacifica clients. We are delighted to have begun this service in Hawkes Bay and look forward to itâ€&#x;s growth and development. During 2009 I have also increased the hours worked by a number of our part-time staff to assist with increasing numbers of clients and the resulting increased workload at DOVE. This has meant increased social work services and an increase to our administration capability which is useful. Throughout the year we have had a large number of facilitators working for DOVE across all of our programmes. These folk make a valuable contribution to our work every week as they deliver our programmes to clients and for this we are extremely grateful. We have had a number of new facilitators join the team this year which is a great help. Another valuable group of people who assist our staff are the clinical supervisors we employ to mentor our programme facilitators and other staff. We are grateful for their considered support and advice as we address a number of issues related to our work. We have had a number of highlights during this last year. One of the earliest was the LIVE Hawkes Bay Family Violence conference held in August of 2008. This was an outstanding success with over 250 attendees and a range of exceptional speakers. They included Professor Ritchie Poulton from Otago University, Nigel Latta from Auckland, Judge Peter Boshier (Chief Family Court Judge), Greg Newbold from Canterbury University, Ngahiwi Tamoana head of Ngati Kahungunu Iwi and Dr Hone Kaa. A lot of hard work from Donna and Becks ensured the conference was a great success overall. In September we held a Decolonization weekend with Mereana Pitman which was attended by 25 DOVE staff. This was an amazing weekend for all those attending. In November, and also May of 2009, a further group of our staff attended a Treaty of Waitangi workshop run by Robert Consedine of Christchurch which was also useful. We have had a number of staff attend many other training opportunities throughout the year. Late in November we celebrated White Ribbon Day with a series of fun events and street entertainment in both Napier and Hastings cities. These events included young people from local schools and were well attended by members of the public. Becks and Henare did a great job organizing these days and the Violence Free message was loud and clear. The presentation of carvings done by men from the Maori Focus Unit at Hawkes Bay prison was a real highlight of 2009. We welcomed the carvings to DOVE with a moving powhiri in February and then went out to the prison to thank those who had carved them on a return visit. The carvings are much valued taonga and have pride of place on our walls at the DOVE office. They are beautiful, moving art works. Another special highlight of this last year is our improved financial position. We have run all our services with a greatly increased workload and have produced a substantial surplus to carry forward into our next year. This means DOVE is beginning the new year with sound finances as well as having good contracts in place for the future.
The future therefore looks promising for DOVE in terms of both ongoing work and increased levels of funding. Recently, We have renegotiated our Integrated Contract with our major government funders for a further three years. The new contract does include some increased funding levels to reflect our growing number of referrals. However, with increasing volumes of work we do still need to negotiate more realistic contract numbers with our government funders. This will be an ongoing discussion with our funders. Finally I would like to thank the staff team at DOVE Hawkes Bay and the Governance Board for the support and great working relationship I experience as the organisationâ€&#x;s manager. I would particularly like to thank Jan Crawford for her work as the Board Chairperson as she steps down from this role. I have enjoyed working with Jan a great deal. I continue to enjoy the challenge that the role brings and working with a great group of committed people. I look forward to the year ahead with great enthusiasm as we grow and develop our services to the communities of Hawkes Bay and work to eliminate family violence here.
Caroline Lampp. Manager.
MEN’S SERVICE COORDINATOR’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
Tena kotou; Talofa-lava; Kia Orana; Malau-elele; Greetings to all. Wow! What a big year it has been for me since our last AGM! October through December 2008 rolled on full steam ahead right up to the holiday break, as it had done all that year; and 2009 promised no let up at all as it began like a marathon run at Olympic 100 metre sprint speed. However, a motorcycle accident on the last day of January brought my start to the year to an extremely abrupt halt. I was hospitalised for surgery and off work for about six weeks. This was followed by a graduated return to DOVE along with a lengthy regimen of physiotherapy. However, thanks to our wonderful and supportive Manager, Caroline Lampp, and other DOVE colleagues, the agency was able to ensure continuity of assessments, programmes and ancillary services – arohanui Caroline, Malcolm, Kevin and other colleagues. The Men‟s Service work at DOVE has progressed, continuing the trend from 2007-2008 with up to four sessions a week being delivered in both Hastings and Napier for much of the year, primarily due to the increasing interest from self-referring men as a flow-on effect, we believe, of the “It‟s Not OK” campaign and the efforts of our local, Police-led, Family Violence Response Teams. As well as the marked increase in the number of referrals it has been pleasing to note the increase in the number of referrals coming to assessment and in turn completing the programme in its entirety. It has been extremely gratifying to see so many men coming forward voluntarily to address behaviour that has instilled doubt and fear in their loved ones; and brought much unhappiness for themselves. Thanks to Julie OliverBell, we continue to offer top-grade support for men where required, both prior to, during and post-programme, and we are seeing wonderful results from being able to work more closely and in more culturally appropriate ways with Maori and Pacific Island men (especially Samoan), this is with special thanks to Mereana Pitman and Uilelea Uilelea. Uilelelea who is Samoan, first worked on behalf of DOVE as a translator for Samoan men attending programmes who had little or no grasp of English. At the time Ui was one of the translation team attached to Hawkes Bay District Health Board. As Ui worked alongside DOVE facilitators on individual programmes he developed a keen interest for our work in teaching men safe alternatives to the use of violence in their relationships and families, and that keen interest has grown into a passion.
Consequently, Ui has undergone training with DOVE and has been successfully facilitating individual programmes himself over the last few months in both Hastings and Napier. Ui has recently embarked on co-facilitation of general group programmes. The increase in the number of men attending assessment sessions has often necessitated that more than one Introductory Module per month has had to be facilitated in each area. I believe the success of these endeavours, and the high calibre of programme delivery, are reflected in greatly increased completion rates for the last twelve months.
Rates of Referral vs Completion 2008/2009 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
Referred
Total Referrals vs Total Com pletions
Attended Assessment Completed Programme
400 200
Family Court
Community Probation
Self Referrals
Series1 S1
0 Ref erred
Complet ed Programme
Ethnicity of Programme Participants NZ European/Pakeha
28%
NZ Maori
58%
Pacific Island
9%
Other
2%
Unknown
3%
The above table clearly shows that Maori continue to be the majority of our client base. This means that it is imperative that we build our cultural capacity to work with these Maori clients. We continue to look to grow the number of Maori facilitators working in our programmes and to employ Maori as part of the DOVE staff team. Most of the men who participated in facilitator training in the latter part of 2008 and the early part of 2009 have gone on to complete participation of the programme and are now actively engaged in observing and practice-delivery alongside experienced facilitation staff; and we are hopeful that by the end of the year most will be ready to work as co-facilitators in their own right. I am extremely grateful for the energy and commitment of all of our facilitators and trainees who, under sometimes trying circumstances over the last year, working at maximum capacity, have laboured so unstintingly to respond to the needs of the Menâ€&#x;s Service and Programmes. My very deep thanks and respect for you all: Shirley Duthie, Peter Charlton-Jones, Peter Wooten, Di Clayton, Bev Kerr, Stephanie Leney-Smith,
Ann Ponsonby, Mereana Pitman, Paul Atkinson, Jocelyn Kennedy, Uilelea Uilelea, Chris Karaitiana, Chris Elliott, Tony Gray, Tracy Courtney, and Julie Oliver-Bell for your dedication, good humour, and professionalism. And a very warm “welcome aboard” to our latest recruit, Nigel Kynoch. Thank you also to Kevin Brown, Ben Bennett and Mereana Pitman, our wonderful „battery rechargers‟, collaborators and mentors, who provide such high quality supervision to our programme facilitators. A special thank you both the Women‟s and Youth Services who provide invaluable feedback and keep us mindful of the stories and realities of those affected by violence in our work with men. You provide such important illumination on our paths. And, finally, but, as they say, not in the least, a big thank you to our dedicated and superefficient admin colleagues; Sharon and Becks. You are the power to the back wheel of everything we do. Arohanui, ki a Kotou, Ki a Kotou katoa!
Marc Leney-Smith Men‟s Services Co-ordinator
“A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding.”
Bahá’u’lláh: Sacred Writings of the Bahá’i Faith
WOMEN’S SERVICE COORDINATOR’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
It is hard to believe that another year has passed as we gather again to reflect upon our year‟s work and look back on some of the achievements, challenges and milestones of the past twelve months. The women‟s service has continued to experience what seems like an ever-increasing demand for our services. In the past year we have met with 287 women compared to 189 in the previous year – this is an increase of 52% - and an average of 24 women per month. These referrals come mainly from women themselves making direct contact and a smaller number from other agencies or individuals requesting support on behalf of women and their families. This figure of 287 does not include those women whose partners, (ex) partners or family members are participating in a men‟s programme and whom we contact by mail-out and phone calls as part of our regular follow-up “Family Work”. Thankfully, these mail-outs, which consist of a partner package, are completed by our admin team and the follow-up phone calls have been undertaken for the past year by one of our women‟s programme facilitators who come in regularly and can give uninterrupted time to this task. In addition to the above, we also get a measure of calls from women who solely want advice on the phone or information sent out to them in the mail. The Women‟s Service has two key workers – myself as the co-ordinator, working 32 hours per week and Donna Nikolaison as our women‟s service Social Worker who has been available for approximately 15 hours a week to work directly with women clients in the past year. Thankfully, Donna will be available for her full 25 hours in the forthcoming year which is much needed and appreciated given the increased volume of work that keeps coming our way. While the men‟s service focuses primarily on programmes for those who are referred to DOVE, the great bulk of our work is support and advocacy for women and their children, many of whom are in crisis situations when they make contact, some facing significant safety concerns requiring an immediate response. This often requires ongoing liaison with our Family Violence Police teams, lawyers, health professionals, Family and District Courts as well as referrals to other NGO‟s and Governments Departments such as WINZ & Child Youth & Family. We are also called upon to attend Family Group Conferences, Strengthening Families and other interagency meetings from time to time in support of women and families with whom we are working. As an outcome of the FVRT (Family Violence Response Team) meetings each week we send a letter to all women offenders who come up on the POL 400s inviting them to make contact if
they would like any support, additional information etc. If they are responsive, we meet with them to assess their needs and although most do not respond to this initial contact, it is a valuable way of advertising what services we offer and the fact that support is available. A small number of women have renewed contact with us as a result of this initiative (sometimes after an initial delay) and go on to participate in one or both of our women‟s programmes. STATISTICS FOR WOMEN‟S SUPPORT AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME Number Number Referrals Referrals %Referrals Referral Commencing Completing Completing Source Programme Programme* Programme Family Court
10
9
90%
Self Referral
65
48
74%
Total
75
57
76%
*Completion of programme is having attended 6 sessions or more. Age of Client Group
Ethnicity of Client Group NZ European/Pakeha
51-60 yrs
New Zealander/Kiw i
41-50 yrs
NZ Maori
31-40 yrs 21-30 yrs
Pacific Island
Unknow n Unknow n
STATISTICS FOR MANAGING ANGER WITHOUT VIOLENCE PROGRAMME Number Number Referrals Referrals %Referrals Commencing Completing Completing Programme Programme* Programme 46
29 Ethnicity of Client Group
63% Age of Client Group
NZ European/Pakeha New Zealander/Kiwi NZ Maori
21-30 yrs 31-40 yrs
Pacific Island
41-50 yrs 51-60 yrs
Unknown Other
During the past twelve months a total of 121 women have taken part in our women‟s programmes – again a marked increase from last year when 64 women participated in programmes. While this is a pleasing increase, we would like to see more women take
advantage of group programmes which compliment any 1:1 support and counselling that they may be receiving. Apart from the educational benefits that group programmes can afford, they can also help women to realise they are not alone in their struggle to deal with domestic violence and relationship issues and that they do have choices open to them. However, we also respect that timing is a significant issue for many women in relation to attending programmes and we cannot underestimate additional barriers such as a lack of childcare or transport not to mention the courage it takes for women to come forward and choose to join a group when often they lack confidence and feel isolated – things we try to address with those women we get to meet, prior to them attending a programme. One of the positive trends that we have noticed is that an increasing number of women who have attended a Support and Education programme are going on to attend a Managing Anger without Violence programme. This is again a pleasing development and has resulted in us moving towards offering each of these programmes in both Hastings and Napier each term. Unfortunately the provision of an evening programme for women in paid employment cannot always be accommodated as our programmes mostly run during the day time and our facilitators are not always so readily available at nights, but we have offered at least one evening programme of each type in the past 12 months. Thanks primarily to the services of Kara Duncan Hewitt who coordinated training for prospective DOVE facilitators in the past 12 months, we are slowly building up a bigger pool of trainee facilitators who can be mentored by experienced facilitators. Val Chittenden, Anna Elliot (also one of our Child Advocates) and Liz Ross-Smith (an EIT counselling student who is currently doing a placement with us) have all completed the facilitator training in the past year and are variously involved in co-facilitating or observing women‟s programmes. These women are all experienced in a variety of fields and each brings a wealth of unique life and work experience to our service. While we welcome these new women, we are also indebted to our existing facilitators - Lianne Jaycock, Ann Ponsonby, Heather Osborne, Di Clayton and Jocelyn Kennedy without whom our women‟s programmes could not be offered. Thank you all for the nurturing, the support and the challenges you offer our women clients and the commitment you show to this valuable work. Thanks also for the humour, the energy and the vitality you bring - (some visitors to DOVE recently overheard the mirth coming from the training room where the Managing Anger without Violence programme was running and jovially commented that they wouldn‟t mind attending!) It is perhaps timely at this point in my report to offer congratulations to Heather Osborne who was successful in achieving her Senior Accreditation as a facilitator this past year. Heather is currently completing her BSW degree so is not available to continue her work with us for the rest of this year, but she has made a valuable contribution to DOVE in a variety of ways over many years, not only in the women‟s service but also as a contributor to youth programmes, and a trainer and mentor of new facilitators. We are keen to see Heather return in 2010. As DOVE Hawkes Bay has continued to grow, we have welcomed other new staff in the past year or more with Mereana Pitman, Anna Elliott and Tania Gray all adding their strength to the waka. Mereana has been able to work more intensively with some of the Māori women in particular, who have wanted more in-depth support and intervention and she and Anna as child advocates have also worked collaboratively with Donna and myself where there has
been a need to support both the women and their children together. Tania has recently taken over more of the administrative work which Donna was doing i.e. attendance and input into the weekly FVRT (Family Violence Response Team) meetings and mail-outs to all women who come up on the weekly POL 400s as perpetrators as opposed to victims of violence. She is also available from time to time to respond to some of our women clients requiring practical support and follow-up. As we have grown as a staff, with more facilitators involved in our programmes work and ever-increasing demands for our respective services, it is easy for us to become dislocated from each other‟s work. In the past 6 months we have begun having case management meetings (on Mondays after staff meetings) in an effort to improve our communication as a whole team and work more collaboratively across the spectrum of DOVE‟s services. From the women‟s service perspective this has been valuable to ensure that we minimise any duplication in the support we are offering and also as a check-in to ensure that we are all more aware of any issues or recent incidents regarding families or individuals with whom we are working. Hopefully this internal communication and sharing of information, which has been further enhanced by improvements to our database and more staff using computer systems to record contact and intervention with clients, is something that we will continue to refine and improve our communication over time. The installation of Police alarms in the homes of women whose safety is of serious concern and the provision of ongoing support to them during the alarm period, is another component of my work which has been alleviated somewhat by the support of the Family Violence Police in the course of the past 12 months. Mostly alarms are needed at very short notice and this usually requires an immediate response that takes priority over other work. While I still undertake the bulk of the administration and monitoring involved, the assessment and installation have been shared and I am very grateful to the FV Police for their support in this regard. We installed 17 alarms between 1 July 08 and 30 June 09 – one more than in the last financial year. However the fact that Caroline managed to secure funding for an additional 4 alarms for the Hawkes Bay area has increased our stock to 10 and means there is less pressure if we get a run of requests. A couple of areas of our work that Donna and I would like to put more energy into, and where women are not always well served by our justice system, are in relation to Protection Orders – eg when there are delays in them being served etc, and in relation to Court Support for women victims of DV facing defended hearings etc. One of my goals for the past year (which I have not been able to meet) was to organise a workshop about Protection Orders for our own staff and other service providers, with the help of Mary Robinson from the Community Law Centre. Unfortunately this has had to be put on hold due to Mary being on maternity leave but these are both areas associated with our work where we would like to be more proactive in the future, if time and resources allow. Networking with other agencies is also something we try hard to improve and in the past financial year I have addressed several forums including PHO nurses in both Hastings and Napier which both Julie Hart (manager of Hastings Women‟s refuge) and I did together. Donna and I also did a mail-out to all GP‟s and Medical Centres in Hastings, Napier and CHB in the past year with a view to raising DOVE‟s profile and encouraging front-line health professionals to refer any patients who might need some additional support as a result of domestic violence.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the Women‟s Service over the past year – our facilitators, their supervisors, my colleagues at DOVE and beyond, and most of all the many women we work alongside whose struggle becomes part of our joint quest to try to eliminate domestic violence and build healthy relationships and communities. Marilyn Scott Women‟s Service Co-ordinator
SOCIAL WORKER’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
Kia Ora, This past year has, once again, been alarmingly busy. Referrals to DOVE for work with rangitahi and their whanau have definitely increased. On average, we are working with forty five rangitahi, and in a number of cases we are working with the whanau as a whole. This is proving to be very positive. There has also been a marked increase in the number of referrals from Hawkes Bay Regional Prison. On average, I am working with twelve men, and again in some cases, I am working with the whanau as a whole. I have received positive and encouraging feedback from staff and Unit Managers at the Prison. Positive feedback has also come from the Parole Board who value the contribution made by DOVE Hawkes Bay. On reflection, it is very evident to me that our mahi is not only more demanding, but it is also more complex, particularly in the area of family violence and addictions. Ongoing training and supervision is so vital, as is more resourcing to meet the demands. I strongly believe that it is important to work with the whole whanau, rather than working with people in isolation. It was great to welcome both Mereana Pitman and Anna Elliott to the DOVE team earlier in the year when they took up the joint role of Child Advocate. I have really appreciated their support and eagerness to work with our rangitahi and their whanau. I would especially like to thank Mereana for the cultural supervision that she provides as this has been vital for our mahi with Maori. I continue as a member of the Napier Foodbank Committee and the Governance Board of Napier Womenâ€&#x;s Refuge. Also, I have recently had the pleasure of joining Friendly Neighbours. A huge thank you goes out to Friendly Neighbours for the financial assistance they have given to clothe whanau and to fund costs to assist our rangitahi and relieve stress for their whanau. My thanks also goes out to my colleagues at DOVE Hawkes Bay for their support as without it I would struggle to manage the workload. I would also like to thank all my other networks in the Bay for their support. Finally, and most importantly, I wish to acknowledge the rangitahi, their whanau, and the men at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison whom I have worked with over the past year. It is never easy to ask for help, and I admire their strength and willingness to address the challenging and painful issues that they face. They teach me so much!
Tracy Courtney Social Worker
CHILD ADVOCATE’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY Tenei te mihi atu kia koutou katoa kua taima nei I te Hui a Tau o te Roopu DOVE,
Anna Elliott comes to us with 20 years experience in social work mainly in the Youth
Justice/Parenting field. Prior to accepting this role Anna completed the DOVE facilitator training, so as well as the Child Advocate role she is also involved in facilitating both “Safe Mates” and women‟s programmes.
Mereana Pitman comes
to us with many years experience in Women‟s Refuge and justice and penal reform interests. Mereana also provides cultural supervision to staff and facilitators and works in the men‟s service area, working with maori men on an individual basis. Mereana represents Maori practitioners working in a “Whole of Whanau Approach” on a special taskforce, promoting this kaupapa. Anna Elliott and Mereana Pitman took up the joint position of Child Advocate early in the year. The Child Advocacy programme was rolled out across New Zealand with advocates speaking up for children and young people affected by family violence. The role is to inspire individuals, organisation and communities to take action for the safety and wellbeing for all children and young people. To help do this training has been provided to a number of agencies. This training has included the Dynamics of Family Violence; Working with Maori and Family Violence; and a “Whole of Whanau Approach” to this work. Referrals come from Police Family Violence Reports and from other social services agencies and government departments. They also come from parents of young people who may also be attending programmes within DOVE Hawkes Bay. Whilst working on their own issues parents often realise more clearly that they need some specialist help and support for their children. Both Anna and Mereana facilitate programmes within DOVE i.e. women‟s and men‟s programme and are able to bring their child advocacy “voice” to these groups about the damaging impact of family violence on children. Referrals also come about through young people attending the “Safe Mates” programme delivered by DOVE as part of the health curriculum, where particular issues have been raised for some students. Both Anna and Mereana are gradually making links with community groups within the Hawkes Bay and both have attended a number of valuable training opportunities. They recently attended the National Child Advocate Hui in Wellington. This proved to be a great
opportunity to meet with advocates from across the country and to attend some excellent presentations. E manaaki, e tiaki e nga wa katoa. Anna Elliott Child Advocate
Mereana Pitman Child Advocate
YOUTH PROGRAMME COORDINATOR’S REPORT TO THE 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DOVE HAWKES BAY
Tena koutua katoa and greetings to you all. The year from July 2008 to June 2009 has seen a continued growth in the number of “Safe Mates” programmes delivered to Hawkes Bay schools. Over this period of time we have worked with Sacred Heart, Hastings Boys High School, Havelock High School, Flaxmere College, Napier Girls High School, William Colenso High School, Karamu High School, The Nikau Centre, Napier Boys High, Tamatea College and Napier Intermediate. Our school statistics show we have worked with 708 young people an increase again on the previous year. I would like to thank my team of Chris Karaitiana, Sandie Speeden and Anna Elliott. Without them the “Safe Mates” programme would not be heard or enjoyed by all the teenagers we meet and I know we all share the same belief in education in the hope that these young people will have skills and knowledge to draw on in the future. The challenge of working with teenagers requires us to continually assess and re-assess our work, what we deliver and how we deliver it. Forming a strong and cohesive team asks from us all understanding and support and I believe DOVE Hawkes Bay is fortunate to have these dedicated facilitators working alongside them to deliver the „Stopping Violence‟ message to young people. I would also like to acknowledge Ben Bennett our group supervisor for his work with us and his valuable guidance and advice. Our work in schools has separated into two distinct delivery formats; classroom and small groups. The small group work is usually a selected and targeted group of 8-10 young people who have difficulty with managing their anger. These young people are identified by the school and work through a 10 week programme which is a combination of the „Safe Mates‟ and the „Breaking Free from Family Violence‟ programme usually used with Court referred young people. The demand for these groups has increased as schools try to provide the opportunity for their young people to remain in education. Our Court-approved youth programme „Breaking Free from Family Violence‟ continues with seven young people completing the programme.
One trend we notice while working in schools is the level of violence occurring at an increasingly younger age. This has lead to requests to work in Intermediate schools and again has required us to assess the content and delivery of our programme. This is an ongoing challenge which requires learning and research and I thank our Manager, Caroline Lampp, for the opportunity to do this. The current financial pressure on Government has resulted in school funding for „extra‟ programmes such as ours being capped in some cases and cut in others. DOVE Hawkes Bay receives little funding for what we do with school programmes. While schools are under pressure to choose who delivers services to their students and facilitators strive to maintain the highest standard we can, DOVE Hawkes Bay struggles to fund what I consider the most important and often the most forgotten part of our society - our youth. Until we, as a society, recognise the value of active and ongoing social education as a necessity rather than a choice we will struggle as an organisation to provide youth programmes. Education at a young age is proven to work. Funding that education is vital.
“Safe Mates Programme” – giving young people strategies and life skills to empower and enable them to make good choices in their relationships‟
Bev Kerr Youth Programme Coordinator