This article was originally published in September 2019 in eMessenger.
I really have no idea whether Methodist Mission Southern is the most Southern Methodist Mission in the world, but I think it is highly likely, and it makes a great headline, so let’s claim it.
Methodist Mission Southern (MMS) provides a wide range of programmes including early childhood education at their Little Citizens early learning centres. When I visited Kylie, the senior teacher showed me around and she knew every child by name. The children were happy
and engaged, well except those that were sleeping in the special sleeping room. The rooms were decorated with the children’s artwork and the outside play area had a newly planted garden. Little Citizens has coats and gumboots available so children can play outside if they have forgotten to bring theirs. Healthy food is provided for morning tea, a cook
ed lunch, afternoon tea and a cooked dinner. Lunch and dinner are prepared on site by the cook and are approved by the Heart Foundation. The food provided meets with the dietary needs and religious needs of the children, including halal meat.
Little Citizens has a family culture and has free support and advocacy available from Client Support Worker who is based at the centre and aims to meet every family and has an open door policy. Little Citizens prepares children for school and checks that children are reaching their developmental milestones and enables a personalised programme to be tailored for each child. They have good relationships with speech and language therapists who they refer to if needed.
MMS opened the Youth Transition House Ōtēpoti in February 2018 and providing a safe, comfortable home for six 16-19 year olds, while they continue with school, foundation education, training and/or employment. It is an opportunity for young people to learn valuable life skills needed in a supportive environment and make the transition to independent living easier and more successful. There is always support on site and each young person has their own client support worker. Support services are wrapped around the young person to meet their individual needs with referrals to specialist providers including mental health services, addiction services, general practitioners etc. Support is provided from the community an example of this is Otago Orphans Aid that providing welcome packs for the young people which have a range of toiletries and stationary in them. The young people are also given leaving packs with cups, plates and a duvet when they transition to independent living.
MMS also provides services in the Correctional Facility at Milton and in Invercargill. Story Reading Dads has been delivered at the Otago Corrections Facility since 2007. A DVD is made of the Dads reading a children’s book and a personal message that is then sent home to their child, along with a copy of the storybook, and a ‘storysack’ full of activities hand made by the Dads that relate directly to the story and create further opportunities for engagement. The day I visited the Dads were all motivated and actively engaged in creating their own books for their children describing their whānau. This programme enables the Dads to establish and maintain a connection with their children, and to improve their literacy. The Mission’s evaluation of Storybook Dads confirms that the opportunity to enhance the relationship with their child is an agent for positive change in the participants, and that their relationships with others, including family/whānau and Corrections staff, improve as a result. Feedback from family/whānau members confirms that the DVD recordings often become valuable items for the children, who treasure the opportunity to see and hear their fathers on a regular basis. The programme provides many opportunities for developing and strengthening parenting skills and literacy development. MMS offer virtual reality learning at the prison which is a collaboration with MMS, the University of Otago and Animation Research Limited. Many in prison have often had negative experiences of classroom learning and the virtual reality makes learning more interesting and providing training that would otherwise be impossible within a prison. Wearing virtual reality googles the students can assemble and disassemble a brake calliper. During this the students hear and see the associated words which they need to understand before progressing to the next lesson.
These are just three of the many programmes MMS delivers in Otago & Southland. To find out more about their services visit their website at www.mmsouth.org.nz
Carol Barron, Methodist Alliance National Coordinator
03 375 0512 | 027 561 9164 | Carol@MethodistAlliance.org.nz
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