Action

A young man was referred to me from OT. He was 18 and he had used our medical and social services in the past. He had a background of abuse and a diagnosis of severe attachment disorder as well as possible undiagnosed mental health conditions.

Often, he would live rough in cars and met his basic needs through criminal activity. By using PARTH I showed perseverance and understood his perspective on mental health, and trauma. I kept regular contact with him and worked to establish his basic needs while building his trust and our relationship.

He engaged well when he was in crisis, however, didn’t keep in contact if he didn’t need something done. I just kept in touch with him during these times, so that I remained a presence in his life. When frustrated or in crisis he would abuse me and tell others he no longer wanted to work with me. I just hung in with him, listened to his frustrations, and respected his needs, keeping a problem solving focus.

I made sure to do exactly what I said and to respond whenever he made contact. This often meant reshuffling my timetable to be available and making sure I took actions that helped him meet his
basic needs.

This took around 6 months and then he started to turn to me before a crisis started. He also looked to me for support to regulate his mood and calm down when in a panic or crisis. At times when unsure he would hold eye contact and say if I thought it was worth a try, he would give things a go and not lose control if things didn’t work out.

It took us one year to find stable housing, work and start driving lessons. However, the personal changes he has made throughout this time are monumental. He trusts professionals and engages, he is in mental health services and started medication, engages with AOD support, and has better ability to manage his anger and control his emotions when things go wrong.

In some situations, I have to act in an overt way to ensure that engagement with a third party is a positive experience for rangatahi.

For example, when I am at WINZ the worker may direct their questions to me which is not going to provide the rangatahi with an opportunity to exercise their agency and autonomy.

So this doesn’t happen, I make the seat closest to the WINZ worker available to the rangatahi and redirect any questions I am asked back to the rangatahi to answer.