14 Dec 18
2018 has been another full-on year for our Network, with a major achievement being Wellington’s highly successful INVOLVE Conference in August. Our active partnership with Ara Taiohi, the Collaborative Trust and SYPHANZ cemented most positive relationships with these leading organizations across the youth sector. General Manager, Nicki McDonald, contributed much organizational expertise, to ensure the success of this event.
This revived conference offered an important platform to maximise connections. 30% of attendees identified themselves as working in mentoring contexts and NZYMN were able to contribute outstanding presentations and keynote addresses. Julia Pryce from Loyola University in Chicago attracted a large audience for her innovative work on the importance of attunement in the mentor relationship; a number of key mentoring organizations collaboratively shared their experiences in workshops and panel conversations; while trustee Dr Michelle Johansson, in conjunction with the outstanding Black Friars Theatre Company, drew together a most memorable finale.
Beyond the conference, NZYMN maintained active connections with the mentoring sector. The ongoing success of our workshops with highly-skilled trainers, Ross McCook and Rod Baxter, has meant we have continued to reach and connect a wide cross-section of mentors and mentoring organizations. Our tailored, organization-specific programmes have also been in high demand. We have really enjoyed meeting you all and wish you every success in the coming year as you continue to serve our rangatahi of Aotearoa.
As the year draws to a close, we would like to thank you most sincerely for your continued support, and for generously sharing your knowledge and experience so that the entire youth mentoring sector can benefit. Mauri tu, mauri ora – An active soul is a healthy soul.
We wish you and your whanau safe and happy summer holidays. We hope that you will have a chance to relax and reflect on the year that has been, and look forward to the year ahead.
Meri kirihimete nga mihi o te tau hou ki to whanau
Joy Eaton, on behalf of the NZ Youth Mentoring team
Leading all this work and the smooth running of the Network, has been the responsibility of our General Manager, Nicki McDonald. As announced a couple of months ago, Nicki is stepping down from this role on 14th December. We want to take this opportunity to thank her for the outstanding contribution she has made, across the full range of NZYMN developments, over the last 7 years. Our new Guide to Safe and Effective practice, which so accessibly drew together the very best of national and international information is a benchmark of Nicki’s achievement. We are pleased to say that Nicki will remain connected with NZYMN, as she has agreed to continue her support, particularly with administration and financial matters.
2019 promises to be as busy as this year. With powerful interest in quality mentoring relationships within and beyond the youth development sector, we are delighted to announce that through ongoing, generous support from the Tindall Foundation, we are bringing another cost-effective workshop, exploring that relationship dimension, to your region. Starting in Auckland in February, we will then travel the rest of the motu, to meet you and your colleagues.
As noted above, thanks to further funding support from The Tindall Foundation, we are excited to announce a brand new series of regional workshops about Quality Relationships in Youth Mentoring. In 2016 we released the Youth Mentoring Guide (2nd edition) and ran a series of 18 regional Sharing the Kaupapa workshops about the Guide with 522 practitioners and 262 organisations attending these.
The feedback from these workshops was extremely positive. You asked for more and you asked us to return to your regions. So now we've created a new workshop based on your desire to learn more about mentoring and specifically about the art of forming and maintaining relationships with young people in mentoring.
We are launching these workshops at the start of 2019 with our first one to be held in Auckland.
Date: Tuesday 19 February 2019
Location:
The Kohia Centre, University of Auckland Espom Campus, Gate 1, 78 Epsom Ave, Auckland
Time: 9.00am - 4.00pm
Free parking: at Gate 2, 76 Epsom Ave, Auckland
Fee: $35 inclusive GST and booking fee
Book online now: https://sharing_the_kaupapa_auckland2019.eventbrite.co.nz
You will learn:
By bringing these workshops to the regions once again, we hope to strengthen regional and national networks in the well-established youth mentoring community.
The full schedule of workshops will be published on our website and in our e-newsletter in the New Year.
Please pass this e-newsletter on to others in your community who work with young people and have an interest in mentoring and like our facebook page to keep up to date.
Ngā mihi nui
Joy Eaton and the NZYMN team
New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network
PO Box 99726 Newmarket
M: 021 468 851
E: joy@youthmentoring.org.nz
