Well this is believed to be a world first and part of a new model of youth and community led connection and support called Rangatahi St.

It’s well recognised there is a growing problem with disenfranchised young people suffering from anxiety and depression. Communities across New Zealand are seeing an increase in crime, bullying and high rates of poor mental health amongst young people.

Kapiti Coast District Council and Greater Wellington Neighbourhood Support recognised the need to gain an understanding of how to create safe, resilient and connected communities that support rangatahi to not just survive but to thrive.

Understanding it takes all of us with our diverse perspectives, connections, and solutions to solve the problems we face as a community, they spent six months working across Kāpiti including Otaki listening to youth, support workers, whanau, schools, groups, sports organisations, marae and church communities.

What they saw was there are actually many people, groups and organisations in the community doing amazing work in supporting rangatahi. They recognised that sports groups were actually teaching life skills first and foremost and often helping young people get through tough stuff.

They heard rangatahi say they always turned to their mates first when going through hard times.

Rangatahi talked about the barriers as being , knowing when and where to seek help, attitudes and stigma, reluctance to attend counselling , doubts about the effectiveness of professional help, not being their own choice to seek help, their ability to verbalise the need for help and to talk about difficulties, past experiences with help-seeking – positive or negative past experiences predicted likelihood of seeking help again.

Youth support workers talked about long wait times, restrictions around criteria in receiving their service as well as their own challenges of working with limited funding and in a competitive funding environment. In some instances they talked about feeling isolated and overwhelmed themselves as there was a huge demand and often they were small organisations or working as a satellite service unable to meet that demand.

Community groups talked about having government programmes developed by experts being rolled out without any recognition that not only were rangatahi in-fact experts on their own lives ,one size does not fit all and they were experts about their community and what support they need. They were passionate about the rangatahi in their whanau and community and supporting them to thrive.

Neighbour Supports goal is to help create safe, resilient and connected communities on a street basis, but young people don’t operate this way.

In response to all these lessons learned the Neighbour Support Youth Coordinator working in Kāpiti developed an innnovative model that puts rangatahi and anyone who supports them to thrive in the drivers seat.

A virtual street ‘Rangatahi St’. Developed as a model which can be refined as more lessons are learned - the first virtual street was implemented in Kāpiti.

Kāpiti Rangatahi St

Some of the things they are doing under the model in Kāpiti.

SAFE Good Mates -keeping each other safe , By me 4 me- My personal hard times self talk video

RESILIENT Map of who, where and what support is available in the local community

CONNECTED – Facebook page sharing information, resources and connecting to each other.

Rangatahi Street Basketball (‘you will miss 100% of the shots you never take’)

The hoop folds up and down and they can go anywhere you can fit a vehicle

What they need now is funding or sponsorship to keep it going in Kāpiti and to extend into Greater Wellington- Porirua, Wellington Central, Lower Hutt and South Wairarapa. Their vision is one day there will be a Rangatahi street in every town across New Zealand.

They are looking for people or organisations that get it and want to be part of owning the change at a community level. ‘By Us for Us’.

If you want to join the Kāpiti group, help extend it into greater Wellington or have any support you can offer please get in touch.

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