Kia ora Koutou - nau mai haere mai
Josh Briggs apart from being a City Councillor, is the acting CEO of Vibe. Josh took over the role four months ago having previously served as Vibe's Business and Transformational Lead for a period of 12 months. Vibe proudly supports many areas of the community encompassing young people and their families. Having been in business since 1996 there are now many organisations in the city that support young people but Vibe is the only "one stop shop" for young people who face all manner of trauma and indecision in their lives.
Research shows that in the last 12 months Vibe and its counsellors have seen approximately six and a half thousand young people either in a one off situation or on a regular weekly meeting cycle. The demographics of these are known to be 36% European, 35% Maori, 16% Pacifica and the rest of differing origins. What is also known is there are more females using the system than male. The above demographics do not include the wider data held by schools, only those that Vibe has kept themselves.
Vibe is supported by its own Primary Care G.P's, Social Workers through O.T. and a custom made Wrap Around Service. They deal with delivering programmes around the ever increasing numbers of Mental Health and Addictions, Depression, Eating Disorders, Anxiety, Suicidal Tendencies, not to mention Teen Pregnancies and anti-natal care. Vibe works hand in hand with school based Health Services and the G.P's themselves. The Counselling Service attached to Vibe has seen 1404 young people between the ages of 12 - 24 over the last 12 months which is a frightening statistic. Their records show that Alcohol and Drugs are fast becoming a growing problem with young people today. For that reason if a young person is referred as an A and D referral the waiting list is less than one week wherever possible. Counselling on the other hand is 2-3 weeks due to the high demand.
Josh spoke about post covid and the needs of young people becoming more of a high complex issue. Although they have received Government funding in the past, community ownership has meant Vibe face very challenging times. More issues, means more staff needed and more time spent. At present they have a total of 46 active personnel. Vibe is a free service and are now in the situation where they need to seek corporate sponsorship to keep going. Being accessible and approachable means they endeavour to try to meet the unmet needs within families. They have first hand knowledge that young people from the age of 14 are disengaging from schools and are increasingly overlooked by a system that cannot provide the care needed. Whilst Vibe interacts and works with other agencies, they are the only youth health service in Lower Hutt. Their referrals come from colleges, intermediates and the like. The growing need has also meant that they rely on volunteers as well as paid staff. Pay Scales have risen, and unfortunately Vibe is not in the position to pay as much as they would like, or they need to, to attract the specialised care that is needed. Mental health is a very competitive and complex area and sadly our young people are not getting the help or the collaboration they need to deal with every day life.
When asked the question: "What is needed?" Josh replied; "Good clear boundaries within families, encourage our young people to talk to their families, their parents. The Digital world has caused severe social problems. We should be encouraging social contacts rather than digital media. Every family should have a support plan especially if they are starting to notice changes with their young person".
Vibe has a policy of confidentiality which is really important and allows a person to feel safe to talk. They make their spaces inviting to have the often difficult conversations. Sometimes several sessions are needed to notice any difference before they can get to a place of wellness for their client. Like many organisations Vibe is always applying for funding. A very hard task to do in a country with constraints as it is at the moment. They need to grow their funding to be able to survive. The annual cost to run Vibe is $4.2 million. Josh indicated that the deficit for this financial year is projected to be $272,000 and that they are doing all they can to minimize the deficit.