He aha te kaupapa?
Aro ki te Hā is a youth programme designed to support rainbow rangatahi to have safe, respectful, nurturing relationships with themselves and others. We’ve been running the programme since early 2023, with huge benefits to rangatahi who have ALL said the programme helped them to have better, stronger relationships!
We all know that having great relationships with friends, whānau, dates and partners is something many of us want, but we’re not always sure how to navigate the tough stuff when it comes up. Conflict, communication, establishing boundaries and, reaching out to build relationships can be intimidating. SO we’ve developed this programme to help young people develop tools and skills to help us know how to navigate the tough stuff! We’ll look at what causes breakdowns in relationships, and most importantly, how to overcome them!
From the ground up, Aro ki te Hā has been created and informed by the voices of rainbow rangatira of all ages and backgrounds from within our communities. Our young rangatira identified the importance of learning skills relating to communication, and of having discussions about establishing and maintaining consensual, safe connections, whether that be platonic, romantic or sexual.
We believe it is important to provide our community with the consultation, research, and evidence-base that has informed the development of Aro ki te Hā.
The Aro ki te Hā Research Report contains two research reports, a methodology report and a community consultation review.
The Tentacular Kōrero document shares the whaakaro, kōrero and mauri that has been gifted to us by our Rangatahi Advisory Rōpū.
Our Programme
Over the course of our seven-session programme (usually run as one two-hour session per week for seven weeks), groups of rangatahi gather together with facilitators to look at core elements of relationships, including:
- Boundaries
- Communication
- Navigating conflict
- Accountability
- Seeking support
- Building stronger connections
- And much more!
If you’d like to participate in upcoming programmes, use the form below to share your interest and we’ll be in touch!
Reflective Journal
If you’re unable to participate in our group programme, you can still develop skills for navigating relationships with our free Aro ki te Hā journal resource!
This resource is broken down into six key sections covering the topics of connection, consent, communication, conflict and community care, with information and ideas to read, as well as lots of exercises to get young people thinking about each idea and how it relates to them.
The resource can be used independent from taking part in an Aro ki te Hā course, and all participants in a course will also receive one. While designed with rainbow young people in mind, people of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to utilise this resource.
Aro ki te Hā:
The Early Years
Our new sexual violence early prevention programme designed for the pā harakeke of ECE aged tamariki.
About this programme
Aro ki te Hā, our respectful relationships programme, is running a sexual violence early prevention programme for rainbow whānau of ECE aged tamariki. Our focus is to empower whānau with knowledge and skills that they can employ to reduce the likelihood of our tamariki experiencing childhood sexual abuse.
Evidence shows that the adults in the lives of our tamariki are best positioned to protect them from harm. Historically programmes have centred on teaching children to protect themselves. We now know it is more effective to teach adults how to prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse.
The programme is part of a wider initiative to move away from child-focused “keeping myself safe” kaupapa, turning instead to recruit a tamaiti’s pā harakeke to help eliminate opportunities for sexual harm to occur.
Expressions of interest
If you or your rōpū (whether that’s friends, whānau, your ECE, playcentre, or parenting group) are interested in taking part in one of our The Early Years workshops and you’re located in Wellington, Auckland, or Canterbury, you can register your interest using the form below.
If you’re applying as an individual, kei te pai – when you fill out the expression of interest form, we’ll let you know when there are sessions open in your region to join.
Questions? Reach out to [email protected] and someone will be in touch to have a kōrero with you!