Published on 4th of November, 2023
When you are struggling to house and feed your children, other things that you would love to do for them are often out of reach. Paying for sporting or creative activities can be impossible.
And if your child is finding learning a challenge, an assessment for learning disabilities is often well beyond the family budget. This is where CMM’s work in schools, together with our Family Support Fund, can make a big difference in a young person’s life.
CMM’s Wellbeing team works in local primary schools, offering wellbeing support for tamariki and their parents/caregivers. Some of this work is through Mana Ake, a Te Whatu Ora initiative, and some through direct arrangements between CMM and the schools. In the last year the team has worked with nearly five hundred tamariki individually and with a similar number in groups. Parent groups have been attended by over five hundred parents/caregivers.
The work is mostly preventative: the ‘ambulance at the top of the cliff.’ It involves helping children learn about managing emotions, making and sustaining friendships and coping in stressful situations. Sometimes, just offering a listening ear to understand the problem, then providing a small amount of funding, can be transformative in a child’s life.
For example, the Wellbeing team worked with R, a young girl who hated anything to do with physical activity. R would stay home on school sports days and avoid physical education. This made her anxious about attending school at all. She was on a path towards truancy.
When a Wellbeing team worker learned that R had sore feet, due to fallen arches, she arranged for a podiatrist appointment and used the Family Support Fund to pay for orthotics. The change was immediate. The pain in R’s feet disappeared. She went to a school athletics day and enjoyed it, even reporting that it was fun.
An understanding of the problem and a small amount of money was all it took for R’s school life to be back on track towards confidence, participation and belonging.
Similar stories can be told for many tamariki. Lessons in drama or sports have not only taught new skills; they have led to self-confidence where this was lacking, to positive friendships where there had been none, and to management of emotions when these had been out of control.
For T, a child struggling with confidence and communication, kick boxing lessons have, a team worker reports, ‘brought a real light and enthusiasm into T’s communication. She is developing skills to make and maintain positive friendships and will have strategies she can use to help her manage her feelings.’
The Team have been able to apply to the Mayor’s Welfare Fund or use the Mission’s Family Support Fund to pay for assessments for autism and learning disabilities. One child, S, with significant cognitive impairments, was able to have a full assessment of her learning needs. Her parents reported that: ‘We have so appreciated access to this fund for S and the support of CMM. Without the funding, a cognitive assessment would not have been possible. The assessment will help clarify more targeted supports and teaching approaches to support her. We truly believe this will positively contribute to S’s schooling future.’
The early years in school set the course for a child’s entire school experience and their life beyond that. Small interventions can have profoundly positive long-term consequences.
From learning assessments to extra lessons, the children of families that are struggling miss out. A donation to our Family Support Fund will make a world of difference for a better tomorrow. Please make a gift at www.mmsi.org.nz/donate
