Ana Apatu.
Our phones are red hot. Media contact Henare and I are to make comment regarding the released coroner's report into the suicides of four Flaxmere young people that occurred over a short time between 2014-2015.
This was a sad time for our community. We feel for those families that have been affected. We understand from the report there are a number of recommendations. One is ensuring we have a community facility where families can access a safe environment during troubled times.
We need to ensure our families are able to reach out to agencies for support and assistance, particularly where domestic violence is occurring.
Agencies must commit to working together, they must have the skills to empower our families to find their own solutions to what can be a complex situation.
Our youth health strategy - Creating Healthy Opportunities for Youth 2016-2019 - shares Dr Simon Denny's snapshot of information from Hawke's Bay youth surveyed in 2012 at school (482 students).
This strategy reminds us that family relationships are incredibly important for young people to be healthy, safe and happy. Over the past decade, young people are happier with "how their family gets along". The data shows us that parents increasingly want to know where their children are, and who they are with.
I was surprised to read, however, that over 40 per cent of young people feel they do not get enough time with their families - perhaps this is a reminder to all of us with busy lives that sometimes it is the simple things that can make a difference, such as making time as a family to regularly sit down to share a meal together.
Even though suicide can be a complex situation, it is important that as a community we build hope. There has in the past been a fear of discussing suicide and publishing articles such as this.
However, we now know from research that it is OK to talk about suicide and then to make sure people are connected to the right support and persuade them to follow up with help.
Help can include contacting your health professional or phoning Lifeline on 0800 543 354.
Because of our youthful population in Hawke's Bay Takitimu Ora, our whanau ora collective, has a focus on young people engaging in employment education and or training. The partners involved with our collective being Whakatu, Waimarama, U-Turn Trust Te Taiwhenua Heretaunga and Te Whare Tapere o Takitimu.
After one year we believe one of the most effective ways we can make a difference with supporting our young people is the area of driver licences.
We hear from young people at our community hui that the barriers are "frustrating and over the top". Barriers such as cost, not having a suitable car, and not being able to read or write, are all taken into account. Our Wairoa community is unable to sit their licence in Wairoa.
Recently at a Tunu Tunu Barbecue, our mobile gas barbecue we take to various streets, I met a young man from Camberley who shared with me how he had been made unemployed. At age 20, a father of two, he had been caught twice without a licence and had failed his learner's once. After offering to take him to Taiwhenua o Heretaunga to sign up to our Takitimu Ora programme, he shared with me that the reason he struggled to get his licence was because he could not read or write. Fortunately, the team are geared up to support this young man.
Too many of our young people end up in the system due to traffic offences. I understand our local prison, Mangaroa, is about to provide more beds to meet demand.
Despite our collective's pressure with resourcing licences, we will continue to seek funding. To date we have had a 100 per cent pass rate with youth sitting their restricted and learner licences. Doesn't it make sense to invest in this simple intervention which proactively leads our young people to employment, rather than spending precious taxpayers' money on more facilities to accommodate more of our young people in Mangaroa?
- Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere.