That “grind it out” mentality of the forward pack.
But scientifically, that’s not how it works. Resilience is not ploughing through everything unaffected, but surviving the hit and picking up after.
We’re not machines, we’re people: stuff knocks us around. We get hurt and we struggle.
Resilience is when our skills and energy and the people we can call on when things are tough, fit the circumstances we’re going through at the time.
No-one has the emotional equivalent of that Swiss Army Knife with all the tools. We all have a few, some more than others, but no-one has the full set.
So, as we go through life, we will all wind up benefiting from some help to bounce back from something at some time. Do it right, and we can not only survive, we can add a tool or two to our resiliency kit for next time.
Which is why the Dunedin Youth Transition House (YTH) works the way it does. We look to help young people before they’ve exhausted their capabilities, in a way that enables them to build more.
This isn’t about rescuing or fixing those rakatahi (youth), it’s about them having more skills, greater trust in their ability to manage the future, more knowledge about how to do that and some confidence that their dreams and aspirations can be fulfilled and that there is a meaningful pathway for them in life that they have a say over.
We have now had hundreds of young people resident at our three YTHs throughout Otago and Southland.
Our mix of youth supervisors, house co-ordinators and specialist support workers combine so that there is always someone to talk with, someone to help navigate the “out there” and someone to hold to the rules.
Jim Wallis once said “the way you think and feel about the world is shaped by what you see when you get out of bed in the morning”.
Transition housing for young people is our attempt to change what they see, first thing.
If you would like to support the Mission’s work with a donation, please visit www.givealittle.co.nz and search for The Methodist Mission.