INFLUENCE 2019 Report
This past Queens Birthday weekend saw a ground-breaking event for youth take place in the mighty Waikato. INFLUENCE – a TYTANZ (Tauiwi Youth Together Aotearoa NZ) leadership training weekend - brought together youth leaders from across 5 different synods, with the purpose of focussing on a difficult but vitally important issue that’s currently crippling our youth in Aotearoa. We as a nation carry the unwanted statistic of having one of the highest suicide rates in the Western world. The sad reality is, many of us know of someone who has been affected by, or lost their life to, suicide.
An added struggle to this is that too often, young people in our churches will suffer in silence. Church and cultural practices sometimes create a perception that talking about anything associated with suicide is inappropriate or discouraged, whether this is the reality or not. Whilst there has been some fantastic work that has gone on throughout te Haahi in accordance with Let the Children Live, there remains a great deal of work to still be done.
For the first part of the weekend, INFLUENCE allowed the 40 youth leaders in attendance to be equipped, resourced and inspired. Pasifika health experts Le Va were invited to run their Flo Talanoa programme – a renowned youth suicide prevention workshop run for social workers, health professionals and Pasifika leaders across NZ. Dwaine Faletanoai and Jimmy Clarke delivered an excellent and insightful session which provided leaders with tonnes of information and resources which they now have at their disposal in their own context.
Once Le Va had laid the groundwork, the next session was where the most important and vital work of the weekend took place. The reflection Talanoa gave time and space for youth leaders to contextualise the work of Le Va into a church and Spiritual context and think critically about what can and should be done in our churches in the name of suicide prevention. Leaders were asked in small groups to respond to the following questions:
In your own view, does our church do enough in the area of suicide prevention and education? Explain your view.
The ensuing responses and feedback from this session is currently being collaborated and will be later released to the wider church as a joint statement of declaration from the youth leaders of Tauiwi in relation to youth suicide and our needed response. This statement will be significant in that it will be directly crafted from the voice of young people themselves.
We believe the work undertaken for INFLUENCE has the potential to have a transformative effect on how we address youth suicide in our church going forward. If as a result, one young person who is considering taking their life, finds a safe place to talk, feel nurtured and encouraged and is reminded of their God-given worth through the results of our weekend in Hamilton, it will all have been worth it. We must, in faith, continue to do everything we can to look at the issue of youth suicide and say that we as a church will not stand for the unnecessary loss of young lives any longer.
An added struggle to this is that too often, young people in our churches will suffer in silence. Church and cultural practices sometimes create a perception that talking about anything associated with suicide is inappropriate or discouraged, whether this is the reality or not. Whilst there has been some fantastic work that has gone on throughout te Haahi in accordance with Let the Children Live, there remains a great deal of work to still be done.
For the first part of the weekend, INFLUENCE allowed the 40 youth leaders in attendance to be equipped, resourced and inspired. Pasifika health experts Le Va were invited to run their Flo Talanoa programme – a renowned youth suicide prevention workshop run for social workers, health professionals and Pasifika leaders across NZ. Dwaine Faletanoai and Jimmy Clarke delivered an excellent and insightful session which provided leaders with tonnes of information and resources which they now have at their disposal in their own context.
Once Le Va had laid the groundwork, the next session was where the most important and vital work of the weekend took place. The reflection Talanoa gave time and space for youth leaders to contextualise the work of Le Va into a church and Spiritual context and think critically about what can and should be done in our churches in the name of suicide prevention. Leaders were asked in small groups to respond to the following questions:
In your own view, does our church do enough in the area of suicide prevention and education? Explain your view.
- How can we challenge the stigma that talking about suicide is ‘taboo’ – in church and cultural contexts?
- What needs to be done to allow for safe conversations around youth suicide to take place in churches?
- How can churches be proactive in providing support for young people who are at risk?
- What can we do to ensure that the voices of young people are heard in relation to youth suicide awareness and prevention?
- What is one thing from today’s workshop that our churches need to hear in relation to youth suicide prevention?
The ensuing responses and feedback from this session is currently being collaborated and will be later released to the wider church as a joint statement of declaration from the youth leaders of Tauiwi in relation to youth suicide and our needed response. This statement will be significant in that it will be directly crafted from the voice of young people themselves.
We believe the work undertaken for INFLUENCE has the potential to have a transformative effect on how we address youth suicide in our church going forward. If as a result, one young person who is considering taking their life, finds a safe place to talk, feel nurtured and encouraged and is reminded of their God-given worth through the results of our weekend in Hamilton, it will all have been worth it. We must, in faith, continue to do everything we can to look at the issue of youth suicide and say that we as a church will not stand for the unnecessary loss of young lives any longer.
Feedback from Participants
Marco Angelo Javate
Hello, I’m Marco from the Takapuna Methodist Church in Auckland. I attended the INFLUENCE workshop in hopes of growing as a youth leader. I enjoyed getting to know other youth members from across the North Island and Christchurch, as well as learning about the reality of youth suicide and prevention together with them.
Le Va were excellent in teaching about youth suicide in an interactive, informative and safe manner. Although I am not Pasifika myself, it was nice to see from that perspective and the lessons were still very valuable. It was new concept to me, especially in the context of faith.
It has inspired me to bring back an awareness of youth suicide as well as a renewed lens and vigour when guiding my fellow youth. I hope that this training opens the church’s eyes to health problems that are not easily seen amongst our youth and helps them to be accommodating for those people as Jesus was for all of humanity.
Siu Williams-Lemi
Kia ora, Malo e lelei, my name is Siu ki holeva Lavinia Williams-Lemi, I am the central south island youth ministries coordinator and I am a member of Beckenham methodist church
My highlights from the weekend watching our older youth leaders in action with the youth and hearing the feedback from our groups at the end of the day. We are so blessed in our church to have some amazing young leaders, who saw that things needed to be done and just got on with it. The Hamilton youth were the best hosts, looking after us all and looking after our pukus!!! Beautiful food!!! After our session with LeVa we split the youth into smaller groups to debrief on the session and I was so impressed by all their reflections.
I absolutely loved the workshop with LeVa! They were sensitive and respectful especially in terms of the subject of suicide. I have been to a few Suicide prevention workshops/talks/conventions and I found LeVa to be the best I've been to so far. It wasn't too heavy but at the same time was full of information and left you feeling equipped and inspired .
I feel more equipped to deal with situations that I may face when dealing with people who may be having suicidal thoughts. Also I've always believed in being real and honest and this workshop just reinstalled this for me. I think in church we need to be more real with each other and find ways and spaces to be able to talk openly and honestly.
I would love to see ALL ministers/leaders do this workshop. I think it's awesome that our youth leaders are doing it, but they are not the only ones who have to deal with this issue. Suicide needs to be talked about, understood and dealt with. I want to see suicide prevention on the agenda of all our churches. We can't ignore the stats and we can't help the issue unless we start the conversation. Big ups to those who are already doing this within their parishes and in particular groups like Toko collaboration who already are doing amazing work in our church and local community.
The INFLUENCE training continued to be rolled out across the Connexion, with workshops in Christchurch and at Tauiwi Youth Conference 2020. The added feedback and input has reinforced the message of needed action. The church cannot sit on its hands and allow young people to suffer, nor offer itself as a safe space for young people to bring their vulnerabilities and anxieties and be met with grace and care. The challenge before the church is great. But it is one we are more than ready and able to meet head on.