Minister supports youth ‘One Stop’ shops

Youth Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta is praising the work of the Palmerston North Youth One Stop Shop (YOSS), and said support for similar centres was important to catering for the needs of young people.

Nanaia Mahuta visited the Palmerston North shop - one of 15 centres around the country offering 10 to 24-year-olds a “one stop shop” for essential services, including counselling, health care and drug and alcohol support for at risk youth.

“These ‘one stop’ centres provide a valuable service for their communities and make a genuine difference to the lives of young people who may otherwise not have this support,” said Nanaia Mahuta.

Nanaia Mahuta said “one stop shops” enabled communities to focus and respond to youth health needs, provide pastoral care and support and create linkages with other services to further education training or employment aspirations.

“We see many examples around the country of how these “one stop shops” are catering to the unique needs within their communities,” said Nanaia Mahuta

“The Pulse – Te Hotu Manawa – is operated by the Whangarei Youth One Stop Shop trust and operates an alternative education programme, teen parent school and alcohol and drug support among its services. The Pulse is a unique undertaking that offers the potential for young people to develop the confidence and the skills to enable them to get on with their lives,” said Nanaia Mahuta.

“The 198 Youth Health Centre in Christchurch is another youth-focused service set up to cater for young people, providing free primary health, drug and emergency social work and peer support services.

Nanaia Mahuta said the relationship “one stop” centres have with other agencies in their regions is an example of how community partnerships can work for the benefit of their young people and support from all sectors is crucial.

“One of the serious concerns is the continued support by Councils to accommodate youth one stop shop services that can radically improve outcomes for young people,” said Nanaia Mahuta.

“Palmerston North’s YOSS has a close relationship with the MidCentral District Health Board, which is developing a youth health “action plan” with input from the region’s young people. Alongside this, it would be great to see the Palmerston North City Council taking an active interest in a youth development strategy

“We want our young people to get ahead and make the right life choices, and “one stop” centres are playing their part and doing a great job making a difference.”