NOVEMBER 2015
TOP story - STOKED Mauri Ora
Last week the STOKED programme saw us challenge the boys to an Amazing Race up to the
top of the Mount. For some of them, this was their first time ever making the climb! There were
clues & activities for them to do as they made their way to the summit. It was awesome to see
them all communicate & cheer one another on. Some of them really had to struggle & find that
inner drive in order to make it the whole way, but the looks on their faces & what they had to say
about their experience was worth it! Everyone took something special away from that morning.
2015 - What We Did...Briefly
Counselling...
Our two clinicians are Nikhil George and
Miriama Westworth. You can read their stories
in our 'Meet The Staff' section, but here is
some quick feedback on what the clients said...
"Nikhil was nice and helpful, giving my son and
I tools for everyday life" Mum of 17 yr old client.
"Miriama was my wife's counsellor and she is
one of the best people I have ever met"
22 year old husband.
Stoked Mauri Ora...
This year we remodelled our Stoked
programme that was begun in 2012 by our
clinician Krista Davis. Stoked Mauri Ora, as it's
now called, has now been remodelled to
include a variety of exciting activities in addition
to surfing, and can now be run summer and
winter. See the enclosed STOKED Mauri Ora
brochure for a full update and read a couple of
testimonials from our recent program. In our
second week we staged 'The Amazing Race'
up Mount Maunganui. See Leon and Miriama
Smith's stories...
• Mentoring...
Started in 2012 with Angelina van Driel, this
year we have grown to 4 mentors. We joined
with other agencies to help run 3 pilot programs
called Te Puawai. These programmes were
designed to support "at risk" 13 to 16 year old
girls. With our mentors spending 18 two hour
session with each girl this amounted to over
500 hours of mentor work this year.
• Street Help Van...
• 2776 people seen this year so far by Street
Help Volunteers
• 30 plus Volunteers
• 7 Teams
• On the streets of Tauranga every Friday and
Saturday night from 10pm till the wee hours.
Thanks guys!!! See Board Chairman Grant
Andrews report...
Health Share Audit...
In June this year we had an unexpected Audit,
we are very happy with the outcome.
See April's report...
• Primary Schools...
After completing four term-long afterschool
programmes in 3 low decile primary schools we
are delighted with the outcomes and feedback.
This year each group had six 8-10 year old
girls, chosen by the school faculty and S.W.I.S.
(Social Workers In Schools), because of their
issues at home or at school. The outcomes and
exciting positive feedback from the parents,
teachers and principals, have been surprising
and rewarding with bookings for 2016.
• High Schools...
Stuart has done extensive work in twelve Year
11 classes this year, particularly covering
subjects like Mindset, Goal Setting, Drugs and
Alcohol, the latter two being shown as things
that can totally sabotage your life's mission and
vision if you allow them to. This seems to be an
effective way to put this message across and
gets traction with 15 and 16 year olds.
Highlighted is already in the script
Here is some student feedback:
"I enjoyed the quotes they are meaningful and
understandable which has helped me change
my perspective in life" Grace 15
"I enjoyed learning for once :)" Kimberly 15
• Sponsors...
Check out our list of sponsors on the back
page. Without their support none of this would
be possible.
A Word from Stuart...
"Thank you so much for what
you have done for my
daughter" These words from
a young mother who came
up to me at the graduation of
one of our primary school
programmes left a lasting
impression. Her daughter
was 9 years old.
Often when I speak about our Get Smart work at
service clubs like Rotary or Probus, on the issues
facing our 'at risk' rangatahi (young people), the most
asked question in question time is "Where are the
parents?!" Part of the problem is that this girl's mother
was probably only 15 years old when she conceived
her now 9 year old. We have babies having babies,
with little or no idea how to do parenting.
Kia Ora, I’m Leon...
This is why our brief intervention into these lives is so
valuable and impacting. A little bit goes a long way.
We title our primary school program "Life Skills" ,
simply because a lot of the life principles I learnt from
my parents osmotically, these children have not, and
neither have their mothers learnt it from their mothers,
and it quickly becomes a generational issue.
Years ago someone said to me, "There is no greater
joy than giving to someone who can't pay you back".
The reward for me is the sense that we making an
investment in young lives that will one day pay
dividends.
2015 has probably been my most rewarding of the
last eight years as manager at Get Smart. Maybe I
say this every year, but we have had incredible
Kia ora, my name is Leon
Samuels and along with a
awesome team, I help to run
the Stoked Mauri Ora
programme. I'm a local, born
and breed on Matakana
Island. Married to my
beautiful wife Lynda, we
have 3 amazing children.
I'm passionate about helping to bring change and add
value to the life of rangatira in Tauranga Moana. This
is the reason why I got involved with the Stoked Mauri
Ora program. It truly has been an amazing
experience this far with the guys on the programme.
My name is Miriama Smith. I
am very excited and proud to
be part of the revision of the
new STOKED programme at
GETSMART Tauranga in
2015. We have created an
adventurous, challenging
and inspiring programme for
our local youth.
I am a mother of two with a teaching background. I
am really passionate about mental health issues and
am also involved in the new movement that is
Onewaveisallittakes.com. I take a group on a Friday
for some fluro fun. Onewave aims to open
discussions and release the stigma of mental health
illness. I live and breathe the Mount! I love being
outdoors and physically challenged. My motto is
‘Work hard to Play hard!’
Kia Ora from Miriama Smith...
STOKED Mauri Ora - Photos...
To see changes already happening within their lives
through the program and our mentors is why I do this.
changes, provision of funding and great outcomes.
I have great staff and volunteers. Please take time to
read the short stories and highlights in their year. In
total about 40 of us work together with the goal of
making a difference for the young people of Tauranga
Moana. Again this is only possible through the prayer
and support of our friends and sponsors, and mostly
to our great God who has helped and supported us
every step of the way this year.
From me I wish you a restful and refreshing
Christmas season, and leave you with this quote from
Ritu Ghatourey
"God's guidance is like a small lamp in a dark
forest...it doesn't show everything at once...but it
gives enough light for your next step to be safe"
Kind regards, Stuart Caldwell - Manager
Seeing their self worth grow along with their
confidence to actually achieve in life is awesome. And
to think it's only just beginning.
Looking forward to bigger and greater things ahead
for Stoked Mauri Ora and all the lives that we will
have an impact and positive influence on.
Hi from Nkhil...
I’m Nikhil George, AOD
counsellor in Get Smart
Tauranga. I have been in
this role since March 2015.
I moved to Wellington from
India in 2008 to do my
tertiary education in
Addictions Studies. To be
honest, my personal life
experiences have
influenced me toward my career in counselling. After
graduating from Weltec with my degree, I decided to
move up to Tauranga to work for Get Smart. Prior to
my present role, I’ve worked in mental health and
addiction settings for 4 years. I love working with
youth and their whanau because it is both
challenging and incredibly rewarding!
After nine months in Tauranga, I am loving life and so
happy to be working here. I have almost fallen in love
with this fantastic city. Tauranga is a beautiful and
peaceful place and I have met up with lots of people
who are into exercise, either indoors or outdoors.
I find working at Get Smart as an amazing experience
professionally and personally. As a team we make
sure that we do our best to help rangatahi to achieve
their goals by providing a quality and “youth friendly”
service.
FAREWELL TO A GREAT CLINICIAN
Krista Davis who worked
with us for nearly four and
a half years, left earlier this
year. Here are some
parting words from Krista...
Kia ora Get Smart whanau,
The past four years I’ve
been working at Get Smart
have been truly amazing
and life-changing, and I have loved nearly every
minute of the work I have been blessed to do with the
young people of Tauranga Moana. It is a job I will
look back on fondly, with many memories to cherish
and so much love shared along the way. Miriama Westworth...
Isn't life an interesting
occurrence? A young woman
presented 'to have a chat.'
“Im not sure why I'm here, I
just know its time for me to
do something about my life.
I'm married, pregnant and
want to make him happy. I
want a happy baby.”
As a beginning statement this was quite frontal. Her
casual presentation was at odds with what she said.
She kept looking at her husband and although he was
willing to speak for her, she was encouraged to speak
for herself. She commented that 'having a baby was
enough to do'.
Her referral had a legal context and attendance at
counselling was a requirement
During our interaction the physicality of her 'state of
being' continued to be a focus. Her background,
recent history, coming motherhood and current
relationship were topics of interest she explored and
'sorted'.
By the final appointment her attitude was positive,
forward looking and she'd been 'clean' for longer than
she could ever remember in the past. Her motivation
was for 'better'.
Several young men have engaged 'with attitude' and
completed with Attitude - a matter of Perspective,
Perception and Potential.
Awareness – Altered, Mind Set- Realigned
Lifestyle- Reviewed
It's true, all the knowledge in the world is useless if
nothing is done with it.
Miriama Westworth
A word from April...
I’ve been working at Get
Smart in the Clinical Lead
role since February 2015.
My role is to supervise the
counsellors and to ensure
we are providing a quality,
accessible and ‘youth
friendly’ service for our
rangatahi and their
whānau.
I’m a registered nurse and I’ve worked in the mental
health and addiction sector for 20 years in a variety of
clinical and managerial positions. I love working in
this area of health and so completed a Masters
Degree in Health Science, my thesis focused on
Coexisting mental health and addiction problems
(CEP).
I moved with my young family to Tauranga (yes from
Auckland) over two years ago and have never looked
back.
A personal highlight at Get Smart for me so far has
been preparing the service for a Healthshare Audit
that occurred in June 2015. The independent audit
was vital because it assessed Get Smarts
compliance against our contract and the Health and
Disability Services Standards.
The auditors made particular comment about the
quality of our clinical service delivery, and we are all
proud to have achieved full compliance. A fantastic
team effort!
How can I fully acknowledge and properly reflect
upon the past four years and all God has done?
There have been over one thousand counselling
sessions; I’ve worked alongside and gotten to know
hundreds of youth; I’ve been lucky to run ten Stoked
tai ora surf programmes; and SO much more! I’ve
seen young men come out of prison and go on to
lead successful, happy, crime-free lives. I’ve also
seen young men break the generational cycles in
their families and become healthy fathers to their
(often unplanned!) babies. I’ve witnessed God
healing the deep wounds and brokenness of young
people sitting in my office who have been dealt a
less-than-ideal hand in life. I’ve seen young people
set free, and move from being victims to survivors.
Lets’s hear from Delwyn...
Hi, my name is Delwyn
I am the Administrator at
Get Smart and have been
working here since
February 2015. I am the
frontline person here and
am the first face people see
when they walk in our door,
as well as the go-to person
for email and phone
contact for clients and referrers.
I love my job and really love getting to know our many
and varied clients and their families here at Get
Smart. Asking for help for alcohol and drug problems
is not always easy, so it’s important to me to welcome
our clients and their families with a friendly smile,
chat, cups of tea and even a warm pie.
I am all about happiness and I love to liven up the
office on a daily basis with good humour and fun. I
come from an Administrative background and am new
to healthcare but I am getting my head around the
many differences in this industry.
I am a loving mum of my 3 young children and am
about to get married to the man of my dreams in
January 2016. We live on a lifestyle block north of
Tauranga, a very busy hive of activity. It is full of
animals, so it keeps me busy in my spare time ha ha!
My time at Get Smart has come to an end, but God
has made this much clear: the journey that He has
laid before me – working with those who are lost,
broken, afflicted by alcohol and drug use, and living in
darkness – this will continue on. My heart to see light
brought to the dark, and for the lost to be found,
keeps pushing me forward as I move onto the next
chapter of this wonderful life!
Many thanks, nga mihi nui, to everyone who has
been a part of this journey and supported me along
the many steps there have been while at Get Smart.
I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you! Aroha
nui and God bless.
Krista Davis, Alcohol and Drug Clinician
Thanks to our sponsors..
Acorn Foundation, N Aked, A Benny, Betty James Greenwood Park, C. Braithwaite, BOP
Asphalt Ltd, Bay Of Plenty District Health Board, BOP Steeplejacks, Baytrust, J Brabyn,
Christine Taylor Foundation, COGS Internal Affairs, CPA Accounting Ltd, P&J Craig Charitable
Trust, CYFS, D&G Caldwell, GJ Gardiner Homes (Shaker 2007), Graham Clyde Charitable Trust,
Guardian Trust, Holzer Family Charitable Trust, K Johnson, Inner Wheel Club of Otumoetai,
KD Kirkby Charitable Trust, Hibiscus Surf School, Harcourts Tauranga, Omokoroa Peninsula
Baptist Church, Omokoroa and Bethlehem Church Community Centre, One Bite Graphic Design,
Pub Charity, Raymons Pies, E Short, Springhill Charitable Trust and Frimley Foundation,
Southern Trust, St Stephen’s Methodist Opportunity Shop, SWIS, Tauranga City Council,
Tauranga Rotary Club, TECT, Todd Foundation.
Greetings from Grant Andrews...
goals for the coming year.
Hi everybody and I
suppose it’s Merry
Christmas, and Happy New
Year to all those who I
won’t see at our end of
year BBQ function. I think I
have said this before, but at
the end of each year it’s
good to reflect on the past
12 months and set some
The past year has certainly had some highs and lows,
the lows I don’t tend to dwell on, but do hope that I
have learnt some things and that they won’t be
repeated. The highs however, I dote on and plan to
have more of. I‘m sure all of us hope and pray that the
work we do for Get Smart and Street Help will have a
positive influence on the lives of the young people we
interact with. It breaks my heart when I hear of
another young person committing suicide. My goal for
next year is to be even more proactive in the schools,
on the streets, and in our counselling and mentoring
services, so that our clients are lifted up out of the
depressed and negative environment that most of
them call home.
God willing, and I know he is He will help us achieve
this.
Roll on 2016.
God Bless,
Grant Andrews
Two Great Testimonials...
My experience with surfing...
"My experience with surfing
was awesome. I had never
been surfing before but
always wanted to!
I enjoy sports and love being
active. Surfing was fun."
Matiu STOKED participant
My experience up the Mount...
We did an Amazing Race up
Mount Maunganui. Along the
way we had to face some
challenges to move on from
the check points. The first
challenge was to do the
Haka. Half way up we faced
the second challenge where
we had to eat either dry
weetbix or seaweed and
ginger. I chose the seaweed and ginger to eat as I like
sushi. We then continued up the mountain extremely
exhausted, but not giving up. As we arrived at the top
we were all really proud of ourselves. For some of us
it was our first time to climb it. We caught our breath
and had something to eat and got some prizes for
completing the Amazing Race. We then learnt from
Leon the story about the Mount Maunganui and the
surrounding islands.... we then headed on down
feeling very proud of ourselves for conquering the
Mount. Christopher STOKED participant
Contact Get Smart:
0800 571 3712
The Village, 17th Avenue, Tauranga 3140
[email protected]
PO Box 841, Tauranga 3140
Fax: 07 571 3715
www.getsmarttga.org.nz
www.facebook.com/GetSmartTauranga