My Whare
My Whare
My Whare
My Whare is an innovative response to housing youth in Aotearoa New Zealand and involves placing state of the art one-bedroom studios on residential properties to house young people who have had a challenging start.
How the Programme Works
The programme includes supportive mentoring from a host family to help guide the young person who is transitioning out of care or homelessness towards fulfilling life, educational and employment goals. In this way, the young person receives connection to community through shared meals and experiences with the host family, while being given the space to grow independently.
They also receive regular support and mentoring from a designated youth worker, who co-designs a path to independence with the young person, supporting them to learn the life skills necessary to live independently as adults.
Support for Hosts
Host Training
Visionwest provides an initial host training course, which is usually completed prior to a young person moving into the whare. The training will give you information and strategies you can use to assist them.
The Mentor
The programme mentor, a youth worker, will assist and help engage the young person from education to employment and will also help the young person transition to safe, stable accommodation at the end of the programme.
24/7 On-Call Support
In the unlikely event of a crisis outside of normal office hours, the My Whare programme has a phone number that you can call in the evening and weekends. It is staffed by a roster of people who are involved with the programme and familiar with crisis management.
Supervision
Visionwest will connect you with a supervisor who may be trained as a counsellor, social worker, therapist, psychologist or similar. They will meet you at a time that’s convenient for you for one-to-one supervision to assist you in your host role.
For more information on My Whare, complete the form below or email: youthhousing@visionwest.org.nz
