Helping Kapiti young people excel

Terry Poko, left, and Darcy Hata are working at Kapiti Youth Support.

Two key figures who used to work at Youth Quest Kapiti are continuing to help young people.

Terry Poko and Darcy Hata helped change the lives of a number of young men at Youth Quest Kapiti before the organisation went into liquidation last year with funding issues.

But the pair have now joined Kapiti Youth Support on a contracting basis where they are continuing to mentor young people, and then further down the track use aspects of the Youth Quest Kapiti programme.

"The work they had undertaken over the years was significant and it would be devastating to lose this resource from our community," Kapiti Youth Support chief executive Raechel Osborne said.

"We're hoping that financial support can be forthcoming to support the integration of Terry and Darcy within Kapiti Youth Support so they can continue this work."

Enabling the duo to join Kapiti Youth Support would allow them to share their knowledge, skills, community connections and passion for working with young people and will add value and strengthen the existing services offered through Kapiti Youth Support, she said.

"This will also benefit the wider community by working more collaboratively to further enhance the wellbeing of the young people within our community," she said.

"This collaborative approach will ensure the existing young people who were engaged through Youth Quest Kapiti will continue to be supported.

"It is an opportunity to utilise and review the programmes previously offered through Youth Quest Kapiti so that these can be furthered enhanced to meet the changing needs of our young people and identify any gaps specific to the Kapiti community."

Darcy said, "We feel fortunate to be working within Kapiti Youth Support to continue the passion we have for working with youth within an organisation that shares our kaupapa."

Terry said Kapiti Youth Support had shared values and a commitment to the overall health and wellbeing of young people to reach their full potential.

He said Kapiti Youth Support made a significant difference, not only the young people but all within the Kapiti community.

Kapiti Youth Support, which celebrated 21 years of health and wellbeing services to the youth of Kapiti, has over 5400 young people accessing its services, which are free for young people aged 10-25 years in Kapiti. Services include medical and nursing, clinical psychology, counselling, sexual health, alcohol and drug services, social work, mentoring, parenting, peer support, transition to work, youth development, education programmes and therapeutic groups. It has 39 full and part time staff.