A sports field, clubroom, Scout hall or camp can reveal sides of a young person that adults at home or school may not see. Coaches, managers, instructors and youth-group volunteers are often present when rangatahi face disappointment, conflict, injury or pressure. They may notice a usually enthusiastic young person becoming withdrawn, missing sessions, struggling to ...
In this six-part series, Youth Mental Health First Aid facilitator Karyn Munro shares what almost 30 years of working with young people has taught her about noticing distress, starting supportive conversations and building a wider circle of trusted adults around rangatahi. The series leads into Path Wānaka’s two-day Youth Mental Health First Aid course on ...
In this six-part series, Youth Mental Health First Aid facilitator Karyn Munro shares what almost 30 years of working with young people has taught her about noticing distress, starting supportive conversations and building a wider circle of trusted adults around rangatahi. The series leads into Path Wānaka’s two-day Youth Mental Health First Aid course on ...
Most parents want to be someone their child enjoys spending time with, and someone they can turn to when life gets hard. We want laughter, openness and connection, but we also need to provide limits that keep our children safe. Being the ‘fun parent’ and being a safe boundary holder are not competing roles. Children ...
Our children’s friendships can bring enormous joy and plenty of worry. We want them to feel included, choose supportive friends and know what to do when relationships become difficult. Yet we can’t manage every interaction for them. Our role is to help create the conditions in which healthy friendships can grow, while gradually giving our ...
Have you ever felt as though you’ve finally worked out what your child needs, only for everything to change? Just as we become comfortable with one age and stage, our child moves into the next. They may need more independence, communicate differently or react in ways we weren’t expecting. Our instinct can be to guide ...
Your teenager is spending more time in their room. They’ve stopped seeing a friend they used to spend every weekend with. They’re sleeping more, or hardly sleeping at all. Perhaps they’re more irritable, anxious or withdrawn. Some of these changes can be part of navigating the teenage years. But you know this young person, and ...
Parenting teenagers, and pre-teen takes stamina. As children grow, they need us differently: sometimes more intensely, sometimes more distantly, and often both in the same day. Here are ways to keep your energy topped up. Prioritise Your Sleep (Yes, Yours!) We often emphasise sleep for young people, but how often do we take our own ...
This article is shared with permission from Tepou.co.nz Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor says adults have ‘duty of care’ to support the mental health of young people With almost 30 years’ experience working as a registered school guidance counsellor, Karyn Munro has a deep passion for the wellbeing of young people. But she has ...
Parenting is a profound responsibility that requires adaptability and understanding, particularly when raising a highly sensitive child. It is estimated that about 30% of the population has high sensitivity. Emotional support benefits highly sensitive kids as it creates a safe and nurturing environment that acknowledges their unique needs Highly sensitive children have a unique temperament, ...
What I’ve learned about understanding, letting go, and showing up differently There’s a particular kind of helplessness that comes with parenting a young adult who is struggling. You can see exactly what they need. You can see the gap between who they are and what the world seems to be asking of them. And you ...
My journey as a parent has required an openness to new ideas, personal reflection from my own childhood and learning from other wise teachers. Mindful parenting is an approach that focuses on developing a strong, nurturing and respectful relationship between parents and children. It emphasises being present, understanding your child’s needs and fostering their emotional ...
Hayley Guinness from Stepping Stones Therapy and I were genuinely encouraged by the strong interest and thoughtful engagement from the Wānaka community at our recent presentation on eating disorders, early signs, influences and community support. It was wonderful to see parents, educators, health professionals, and community members coming together for such an open and caring ...
Every year on 31 May, Aotearoa marks World Smokefree Day – a day that’s all about supporting people to quit smoking and celebrating the benefits of living smokefree. It’s part of World Smokefree May, a nationwide campaign that reminds us: quitting is always worth another try, and you don’t have to do it alone. Quitting ...
In a lot of young people, dedication is something we actively encourage. Showing up to training, being disciplined, pushing through discomfort – these are often seen as strengths. And in many ways, they are. But sometimes, what starts as commitment can quietly shift into something more rigid and harder to step back from. We often ...
One of the most common things we hear from parents and caregivers is something like: “I could see things weren’t right, but I didn’t know if I should be worried yet.” That space can be really hard. Nothing feels obvious enough to act on, and you question yourself if perhaps you’re being over-cautious, but something ...
A round-up of Dr Lucy Hone’s Keynote & Q&A Community Evening Last week, 330 people filled the Lake Wānaka Centre to hear Dr Lucy Hone speak on Thriving Through Challenges and Change: Lessons from science and life. The full house reflected both the relevance of the topic and the strong appetite in our community for ...
Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time working with rural communities – running talks, facilitating workshops, sitting with people over cups of tea in community halls. Again and again, some version of the same question finds its way to me. “How many times do you have to be knocked down and be ...
Do our character strengths change over time? Recently someone wrote to me after hearing an interview I did on The Imperfects podcast. Years ago she had completed a strengths assessment which she reported as ‘life-changing’, but now wanted to know if our strengths change over time. Should she repeat the survey? Before I answer her ...
Author: Dr Lucy Hone At a recent workshop, a man pulled me aside and shared his worries about his children. He’d lost his wife, and amid everything he was carrying, was consumed with concerns for them. Were they really okay? How would he know? Why weren’t they opening up to him? Was that normal? Were ...
At the heart of Dr Lucy Hone’s work is a powerful question: how do we build a good life, even when life is hard? How do we keep hold of meaning, hope, connection, and even joy, when things feel messy or uncertain? Life does not always go to plan. Sometimes it knocks the wind out ...
How do we show our sons what healthy masculinity looks like, and start the conversation at home? There is a lot of noise around boys right now. Some of it is all volume and no wisdom. Dr Justin Coulson’s latest work cuts through that. His new book, Boys: Building Strong Young Men from the Inside ...
Following Dr Kris Taylor’s parent evening last week, many parents were left sitting with the same big question: how do we raise good, grounded boys in a world that is loud, online, and constantly shaping their ideas about manhood? It’s a fair question. Boys today are growing up with gaming, social media, group chats, algorithms, ...
I live not far from some pretty wild rivers. Not the tame kind you see in postcards – narrow, obedient streams that trundle on, knowing their place. The rivers I paddle on are braided. Many different channels within a wide basin, restless, constantly shifting. From above, they look like aquamarine threads pulled through silver sand, ...
