PARTH comes from research with rangatahi in Aotearoa that occurred from 2008 to 2016. It involved surveys with nearly 600 rangatahi in at least two different services, like care and protection or alternative education and compared these with surveys from over 700 rangatahi not in services. Over 100 of the service using rangatahi were then followed up and interviewed at three different times about their experiences of services and of transition to adulthood. One person close to them was also interviewed and their case files reviewed. PARTH comes from the things that rangatahi said worked for them in services and helped them to achieve positive outcomes. PARTH is all about the relationship and focuses on the relationship as the most important ingredient for positive change (Relationship-based practice). Many organisations supported this research including Highbury Whanau Centre, START Youth Transitions, Te Aroha Noa Community Services, Youthline, Kapiti Youth Support (KYS), and The Donald Beasley Institute. Click this link to find out about the research.

PARTH is for kaimahi. We have used the word kaimahi to mean someone who works with youth, regardless of their profession or background. So, PARTH is for youth workers, social workers, teachers, health professionals, volunteers, support workers, coaches, caregivers, managers and supervisors – basically anyone who is in a helping or support relationship with rangatahi. PARTH is designed to help kaimahi develop positive and effective professional relationships with rangatahi. The elements (PARTH words) help you to reflect on and shape the way you relate to the rangatahi you work with. All the elements of PARTH link together. You can’t just do one, or work your way through them in order. PARTH can fit alongside any other practice models or frameworks that you use, because it is focused on how you build and maintain relationships with rangatahi rather than specific interventions or tools.

A lot of the things in PARTH feel like common sense and like things that you would do instinctively. While this is true, there are two important points. One is that even though the ideas in PARTH seem obvious, for most of the rangatahi in the study, they did not experience these kinds of relationships with kaimahi and felt lucky when they did. PARTH was designed to help make sure that quality, professional, relationships that make a difference for rangatahi happen every time. The second point is that PARTH is designed to help affirm relational practice. Mahi with the most vulnerable rangatahi can be hard. PARTH helps to remind us that we are doing the right things even when it feels challenging.

There are lots of resources in the kete. You can start anywhere, but a recommended approach is to learn a bit about the elements first. You can check out the PARTH page, the How do I apply PARTH in my mahi page and if you are a manager or team leader the Manager’s page. There are written and video resources that can help you to understand PARTH. It is useful to start by thinking about how PARTH fits with your organisation and the things you already do. The PARTH in practice reflection sheets help you to consider each element in depth and how they align to your ways of working. This may also help to identify areas where your organisation strongly supports relational practice as well as any barriers. This resource is especially useful for managers or team leaders looking to embed PARTH in their team. Next, the starter resources at the bottom of each page have resources such as Short definitions cards and Reflection cards are great ways to remember PARTH and relate it to your mahi. You can use these individually, in team meetings or in coaching and supervision. These are a good next step after learning about the elements. You can use the PARTH key ring cards as a quick reminder of the things that make a difference for rangatahi. Some kaimahi attach them to their keys or to their backpacks as a ready reminder. The Games and activities page has lots of ideas for how to use these and other resources. Kaimahi stories and Rangatahi voices are also a great place to hear about what works and how others approach their mahi. As you become more familiar with PARTH, other resources like the Indicators, Theories and ideas, Supervision tool and Learn, contribute, collaborate can help to deepen reflection and understanding. You can also search the site by certain issues to get ideas and support for particular areas of your mahi.

PARTH works best when you consistently apply the principles to your mahi and make time to reflect on your practice. A number of the resources are designed to help you think about your words and actions and the impact they have on rangatahi. From this you can do more of what does work and change when you recognise something isn’t working. PARTH also works best when a whole team or organisation takes it on board. It helps people to have others to reflect with about PARTH and to feel supported in relationship-based practice. Some kaimahi have told us that it can be harder to maintain a relational approach if this is not how those around them work.

Relationship-based practice is a way of doing our mahi that puts priority on building a strong, positive relationships. It is about putting rangatahi at the centre of our focus and being respectful and listening carefully to what rangatahi tell us. It is also about keeping our word, not promising what we can’t deliver and providing opportunities for rangatahi to make choices and decisions. Research shows that a strong relationship with at least one supportive kaimahi who sticks with rangatahi, makes positive things happen and involves them through the process is a key way of building resilience and creating positive change. These sorts of respectful and empowering relationships fit with positive youth development approaches. Right here in Aotearoa, relationally oriented service delivery has been found to have a bigger impact on change than increasing the number of services provided to rangatahi. If you want to learn more about the ideas behind RBP check out the Theories and ideas section.

Absolutely. PARTH is one way to think about the understand focusing on the relationships you build with rangatahi in your mahi. Evidence for relationship-based practice is growing internationally (see the reference list at the end of this brief summary). PARTH is especially relevant because it comes from Aotearoa and the things that rangatahi talked about. From the research there are also two other relational practice frameworks. Tōu Ake Mana is a Te Ao Māori framework, drawing on study findings. Moana is a broad Pacific based framework, which also draws on study findings. You can use these frameworks alongside each other or pick the one most suited to your mahi.

The resources in the kete are for you. They are not designed for use with rangatahi because they are made to help you reflect on the ways you contribute to the relationship. However, some kaimahi have used the ideas from PARTH to get feedback on how the relationship is going. For example, asking rangatahi to rate whether their kaimahi has been passionate, adaptable, and trustworthy.

We often think about resilience as the idea of bouncing back, or the ability to cope with life’s challenges. In PARTH we think about resilience more broadly. Resilience is about how well people, whānau and communities can find and use positive resources, like people, cultural resources and physical resources to get their needs met in culturally appropriate ways. Resilience is not just an individual trait inside of someone but is the relationships and resources around rangatahi that they can easily access to get support. Resilience is a big deal, because in the study, rangatahi who had greater resilience (access to these positive relationships and resources) had better outcomes. So, this tells us that the more we can help rangatahi to identify and have access to positive supportive adults, the better off they will be. Kaimahi can be positive and supportive adults and have a big role to play in helping rangatahi to find others positive supports. It is the combination of a good relationship with a kaimahi and other supportive relationships in the wider environment that makes the most difference for rangatahi.

The research reports tell lots of stories about the rangatahi in the study. Some did not achieve the outcomes they were hoping for, while others did return to education, gain employment or start and provide for a family. Some of the stories are in this report]. Some of the kaimahi stories also share examples of where a consistent relational approach has made a big difference (See these stories for examples – Emmanuel, Masina, Rangi,  Justin, Mei and Kenneth). The fact that we don’t always see what happens in the long-term highlights how our funding systems focus on what we call episodic care. This is when we are involved in rangatahi lives for a short time when there is a crisis and send them on their way when the immediate issue is resolved. This shows just how important it is that we focus on transition from when we start work with each rangatahi and work to connect them to other people who will stay the distance with them. The final report from the research also tells us that those who had two or more positive service quality experiences had better resilience and outcomes. So, when we use relational approaches like PARTH in our mahi, this can help to create lasting, positive change.

PARTH is focused on how to be with rangatahi. It is not a step-by-step guide of what to do. It is designed to fit alongside any other models or frameworks you might use. For example, some of our partners use this alongside Te Whare Tapa Whā. In the theories and ideas resource there is a document that shows how relationship-based practice fits alongside Te Ao Māori (for example, see this brief summary). The PARTH in Practice Reflection sheets invite you to consider how PARTH aligns with your vision/mission/values and culturally responsive practice. This is an opportunity to see how PARTH fits with any of your existing approaches, including cultural frameworks and models. The element of respect is very much about mana enhancing practice. This summary of an article talks about that alignment.  PARTH is one of three frameworks, which includes Tōu Ake Mana. Tōu Ake Mana also drew on study findings to identify ways of working that led to better outcomes . The same has been done through a broad Pacific lens in the Moana framework.

The research showed that kaimahi found it hardest to build relationships with those who had the most risks, and the final report shows that those who came to services with less risk and higher resilience already were likely to do better. This means our job is much harder when we are working with those who are the most vulnerable. Obviously, we can’t force rangatahi to talk, or engage and there are many quotes from rangatahi in the study who felt their backs were to the wall when they felt forced to do something and would take back their power by running away, not engaging or lashing out. This summary about working with resistance helps to make sense of these behaviours. There is no magic bullet here, but this is where the PARTH P elements (Passion, Perseverance and Perspective)our Ps, really come into play. Being persistent and emotionally consistent, using perspective to understand why they might behave in this way, and keeping your passion even when it feels like nothing works. Rangatahi do often want support, even when their words or behaviours look like they are pushing us away. They have been let down so many times that it takes a lot to build their trust. To protect themselves, they will often appear to push us away to test if we will be like all the others . It is our job as the adults to persist in figuring out the right way to deliver services to them. This is where our the PARTH A element’s are so important in partnership with the Ps - keeping going, but not repeatedly doing things that don’t work. Working with those who we find hardest to draw into our services is also about hope - remembering that your behaviour now may not make immediate change, but it may be remembered later or make things a little easier for the rangatahi next time they are in services. Getting support from colleagues and reflecting on practice is important here, to make sure that we don’t respond to this rejection with frustration and rejection of our own. Finally, honesty and transparency are key to engagement by being up front about what can and will happen.

The resources on this site have been created by researchers and kaimahi in Aotearoa to support the use of positive relational practices. They are protected by a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND). See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en. You are welcome to download them to use individually, in your teams and in supervision/coaching/critical reflection, you should acknowledge them when you do this. You may not change them or use them to develop your own external training, or for commercial purposes (e.g by charging a fee).