Collaborating agencies bring successful water safety program

Collaborating agencies bring successful water safety programme to Upper Hutt

Upper Hutt City Council, along with the NZ Police, Wellington City CAYAD, CART, YMCA, and Orongomai Marae brought the Tuakana Teina Water safety programme to Upper Hutt for the first week of the school holidays.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 15 JUL 2015—The Tuakana Teina Water Safety programme is a 5 – 6 day course for 12 – 17 year olds and has, since April 2013, been run every school holidays in Wellington. The programme was an initiative born out of a desire to address the over representation of Māori and Pasifika in drowning statistics in New Zealand. It uses a mentoring approach as suggested by the name Tuakana Teina, meaning ‘big brother/sister – little brother/sister,’ and further aims to prepare young people to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood to achieve their full potential. The water safety training and preparation, which culminates in an open water sea dive on the final day, is a means of achieving this.

According to the brief created by Anthony Carter of Wellington City CAYAD, the programme follows a model called ‘The Circle of Courage,’ which strives to develop belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity into a person’s life. The practical water safety training provides a platform for development of social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies.

This July school holiday programme was the first time that Tuakana Teina had been delivered in the Hutt Valley being coordinated by Upper Hutt City Council. The police played an important role in providing resources and expertise to support the participants through the programme, and Wellington City CAYAD and the Consultancy Advocacy and Research Trust (CART) provided guidance and support for the programme. Orongomai Marae and the YMCA of Greater Wellington also generously contributed venues, staff time, and resources to ensure that the programme was a success.

“The generosity of all the organisations involved is to be commended. This programme is a great example of the community working together to support our rangatahi,” says Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy.

Basing the programme in Upper Hutt provided an opportunity for Upper Hutt City Council staff to collaboratively engage with the Police and CAYAD and other groups within the community to create a successful programme.

“We were attracted by the programme’s already extensive success record,” says Upper Hutt City Council’s Director of Community Services, Mike Ryan. “The 5-day programme in Upper Hutt was a great success, with positive feedback from both participants and their parents, as well as significant increases in water safety skills and a successful open water dive on the last day of the programme.”

ENDS

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