Camp steers wild youth to right track

A former drug-taker is now inspiring others away from crime, reports CATHERINE MASTERS

Jared Goodwin was going off the rails. It started when his dad left when Jared was just a toddler.

The West Aucklander became a "problem child" at school; his mum did not know how to deal with him and was too lenient.

At school he got into marijuana, just a little at first. By the time he was a teenager he was smoking every day and he began stealing to pay for the drug habit. His mum almost kicked him out, one school did expel him and he dropped out of another.

He fought with a supportive uncle and got into trouble with the police - but it was then that his life turned around.

At 18, Jared ran into the path of Youth Aid officer Brenton Rice, who has helped hundreds of young New Zealanders with traumatic or difficult childhoods by importing an Australian programme called Youth Insearch, where youth camps are held for young people, by young people.

Mr Rice persuaded Jared to go along to a camp in Australia to see what he thought of the programme.

"That's what really touched me. I realised that I wasn't on the right track and this was what I wanted to do."

The idea is to share experiences and most of the leaders, like Jared, and the participants have come from disadvantaged and/or abusive backgrounds. The leaders are inspiring because they have turned their lives around, says Jared.

On Thursday, he was one of six youth leaders presented with a leader's badge and certificate of accreditation at Government House in Auckland by the Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardie Boys.

The camps are held at weekends and start with trust-building sessions, then go into sessions on topics such as drugs and alcohol, parent and adolescent hassles, sexual assault and grief.

The group sit round in a circle in the session room and share.

"There's a lot of hugging involved, and we try to create a family atmosphere," Jared said. "A lot of people at the camps have never had a hug. They've never had family really, and they don't know what it's like to feel valued and loved."

Mr Rice said that when he was a youth aid officer at Auckland West he had been searching for "something different" to help young people who were falling through gaps in the system.

When he heard an Australian promote the camps in New Zealand he got "very fired up," went to visit one and was impressed.

"It's the empowering of the young people to look at themselves in a trusting environment. They open up extremely quickly. I couldn't believe some of the stories I was hearing ...

"Unfortunately, what used to be a minority is turning into quite a percentage of young people who are essentially falling through the cracks without hope and it's even horrifying to think about their future.

"It's an empowering process. They help themselves to get on with life."

To contact Youth Insearch, telephone (09) 411-9163.