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

New Means

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 treatments Suicide Prevention in New Zealand A contemporary perspective: Social explanations for suicide in New Zealand

Published in May 2005 by the Ministry 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 stupid

Why inequality matters