HOPE NAVIGATORS - CAYAD TAMAKI MAKAURAU

Hope Navigators, based at the Pride Project in Manurewa, walk alongside people and build the understanding and trust they need to engage successfully with local health providers and social services.

The initial pilot - supported by CAYAD - has grown to six Navigators helping over 80 whānau and has attracted new funding.

“They’ve really opened a lot of doors for us. I couldn’t really do it without them because I would’ve just lost my way again. I just needed that support. And I found it here.” – Leslie (Client)

The hope navigators journey

The Pride Project is an NGO formed in the south Auckland suburb of Clendon to combat anti-social activity in the area. It works with people who have fallen through the cracks, have complex needs, and have often lost everything, including their sense of hope.

The Pride Project first connected with CAYAD after experiencing a number of local issues with substance use, including increasing instances of people going to the Clendon Pride Project Community House under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. Community members were also requesting support from staff around their substance use, understanding what treatment services were available and how to access them, but there were reports of a general sense of mistrust in local social service providers.

CAYAD kaimahi Jordyn Johnston spent time building relationships with staff, listening to their concerns and understanding the peer-support that The Pride Project volunteers were already providing to their community. During one visit, The Pride Project team leader Melissa Atama shared her vision to streamline this volunteer mahi into a more formalised programme where volunteers could be paid and receive training to support others in the community. This aligned with CAYAD’s capacity building mahi, and with CAYAD’s support the idea was able to be piloted as the ‘Hope Navigators’ programme.

Hope Navigators are community-based, peer-support workers who walk alongside those needing support, giving help that is consistent, unwavering and non-judgemental. All the Hope Navigators have previously engaged with The Pride Project and have lived experience of accessing social services. They have gone through the hard journey of finding hope and confidence themselves, and now have a passion to support their community.

CAYAD assisted The Pride Project to connect with training providers for the Hope Navigators and funded supervision for them through well-known counsellor, Peter Thorburn from MESS (Meth Education and Solution Services). Training covered Family Violence, Child Protection, Mental Health First Aid, Financial Mentoring, Alcohol and Other Drug Support, Motivational Interviewing, Suicide Prevention and Intervention, and Peer Support. One Hope Navigator says, “…it’s amazing to fill our ketes with so much knowledge as education is key.”

Over the 12-week pilot, 46 individuals received intensive and on-going support from four Hope Navigators, with a total of 93 family members supported. Of those the Hope Navigators worked with, 82% were Māori; 60% were female; and 54% were children and young people. In total, the Hope Navigators referred individuals to 37 organisations. The most common referrals were made around mental health (16%); housing (15%); parenting (13%); employment (12%); and alcohol and other drugs (9%).

The Hope Navigators provided holistic and long-term support for whānau and went above and beyond to build relationships, sticking with people for as long as they needed. As one client shared,

“We had help with the anti-P ministry, the parenting course we did was awesome, constant help with our battle with CYFS. And it wasn’t just that you came in once and you see somebody here and you leave. It was a full-on wrap-around service sort of thing.”

Says another client,

“The Pride [Project] has great people and great attitude and heart towards us. It’s hard to find such caring people who do not judge you and are willing to give their love to me and my family.”

CAYAD is continuing to partner with The Pride Project in their Hope Navigators mahi, providing funding for a short documentary around the project i(now available on their Facebook page) which is being used to help them successfully build the case for further funding. The Hope Navigators are now working with local schools and the programme has received a Ministry of Social Development contract. CAYAD is also supporting their capacity around alcohol and other drug issues, working with rangatahi, and evaluation, and is assisting them to apply for funding for a rangatahi employment programme through MBIE.

Melissa Atama, the Pride Project Team Leader, says “The support of funding for our Hope Navigators pilot was the catalyst for an amazing kaupapa that has grown to six Navigators helping over 80 whānau intensively, with new whānau engaging all the time. Thanks CAYAD for believing in us.”

Joy Davidson and Jordyn Johnston, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau