Humility

Humility is taking a humble approach and remembering that rangatahi have made the best decisions they could in their circumstances.

Making mistakes is a normal part of life. We support rangatahi to fix their mistakes and try again. We avoid judgemental labels and descriptions and highlight positive characteristics.

Humility is being willing to learn from rangatahi, learn from our practice and learn from our colleagues.

We admit when we have made a mistake and we make it right again.

 

Thanks to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for funding the research that created these resources (MAUX2006).

This work by J. Sanders, R. Munford, J. Webster, J. Mercier, D. Abbott & L. Liebenberg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Humility involves:

  • Being non-judgemental,
  • Stepping in and stepping back as rangatahi need it,
  • Understanding others might give better support,
  • Supporting rangatahi to find their own solutions,
  • Supporting them to put things right when they make mistakes,
  • Putting things right ourselves when we make mistakes,
  • Nurturing the skills and strengths rangatahi have,
  • Valuing their culture, beliefs and abilities.

To explore this element in more depth, go to the PARTH in practice reflection sheet.

"Humility" orientated rangatahi voices

Aroha's voice

Aroha shares her views about being a young person.

Jade's voice

Jade reflects on life on the streets.

Jakob's voice

Jakob shares his perspective on not being heard.

All Humility voices

Kenneth shares an example of being vulnerable with a rangatahi.

Kaimahi stories have come from the youthsay partners. Te Aroha Noa Community Services, INNOV8, Dingwall Launch Programme, VIBE, Tuilaepa Youth Mentoring Services (TYMS), Reconnect Family Services, Kapiti Youth Support (KYS) and other kaimahi shared these stories from their mahi. They have been anonymised to protect identities. A big thank you to the organisations and kaimahi who have generously shared their wisdom and experience.

All of those general necessities of life, kaimahi are in a privileged position that they can provide many of these things while the rangatahi is working out x, y and z.

This is not a band-aid approach, it is giving a rangatahi the means to figure out what they need to do next. To get them to think about what they need for themselves right now.

Then to think beyond that even if it’s just an inch. Because movement no matter how big or small it is, it’s still movement.

Read more

Daisy reflects on taking a step back to recognise the bigger picture when mistakes are made.

Kaimahi stories have come from the youthsay partners. Te Aroha Noa Community Services, INNOV8, Dingwall Launch Programme, VIBE, Tuilaepa Youth Mentoring Services (TYMS), Reconnect Family Services, Kapiti Youth Support (KYS) and other kaimahi shared these stories from their mahi. They have been anonymised to protect identities. A big thank you to the organisations and kaimahi who have generously shared their wisdom and experience.

We all know what it’s like when you are working with rangatahi for a period of time and then things stop going anywhere…..what do we do??……in my case I had been working with this young man for almost a year and we had built up a good relationship.

I was seeing him 2-3 times a week as he had requested. However, he started withdrawing and then got to a point where he would barely give me one word answers and spent a large amount of time during the interview looking at the ground.

I was frustrated with him, myself and everything else that was going on and was at a loss at how to get through to him. While sitting at my desk I flipped through my PARTH Model chart and it was while reading through this that I realised I needed to go back to basics and be completely transparent and honest with him.

So our next session when he sat down I out right asked him what was going on?
Was there a problem between us?

These questions and our discussion was placing myself in a vulnerable position, but it also showed him that I had not only noticed that something was going on but it was affecting both of us.

Although it scared me to think I could have been the issue, I was willing to try.

It was from this session that we have been able to rebuild our relationship and through this I have found new ways to not only work through what we need to but have fun doing it as well. PARTH is not just another model it really is something to incorporate into your current work life!!

Read more

Humility indicators

You know you are showing humility when you:

  • Can acknowledge if you’ve made a mistake and say sorry.
  • Can be vulnerable, take ownership and learn from situations, include others and get feedback on your mahi.
  • Remember that the rangatahi is the centre. It’s not about you and your experiences or expectations, it’s about what they’re trying to achieve or get out of it.
  • Are not easily frazzled, are patient and calm.
  • Can challenge young people in a way that maintains their mana and gives them choices, for example ‘Next time I come back, I need you to do xxx, I’ll put it in your court, and we can come back from where we left off’.
  • Are mana enhancing with rangatahi, let them act and make decisions.
  • Know who you are so there is no need to try and look cool. Are comfortable in your skin and you know what to do in your mahi.
  • Talk about the strengths and skills of rangatahi.

Humility reflection cards

This work by J. Sanders, R. Munford, J. Webster, J. Mercier, D. Abbott & L. Liebenberg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 
This site was created as part of a research programme (MAUX2006) funded by MBIE. We thank them for their support.

crossmenuchevron-downquestion-circlechevron-left-circlechevron-right-circle