Youthline coming of age

Youthline coming of age

Increasing quality and building capacity are two of the objectives Youthline Auckland hopes to achieve now it has changed its status to a charitable trust with a recently appointed Board of Trustees who met for the second time last week.

The move is a coming of age for the organisation, which has been providing counselling programmes and support to young people in New Zealand for over 33 years as an incorporated society and constantly growing over that time to meet demand.

Youthline had reached a point where it needed the full support and capability a trust board can provide to help the organisation grow and develop to meet increasing demand, Chairperson Pat Hadlee says.

"That's what we now have, and already the board has had a huge positive impact on Youthline," she says.

Youthline director Stephen Bell agrees. The change of status and election of a trust also reflects Youthline's aim to be firmly embedded in the community and involved community people on the trust.

"The trust will bring valuable business and strategic skills to the organisation, which will enhance our governance, structure and operations," he says.

"Around the region Youthline services are stretched to capacity so the immediate future for the organisation is to build capacity and add quality to the work that is already being done, and the trust board will play a big role in this".

The trust will consist of nine members representing different sectors of the community including youth, Maori, Pacific Island, women and clinical representation. The board also reflects the organisations culture and philosophy.

Eight members have currently been appointed and they are: Pat Hadlee, Jill Dryden (secretary), Aasha Murthy (treasurer), Martyn Bradbury (Bomber), Jenene Crossan, Lisa Bright, Patrick Ikiua and Josephine Stanton.

Pat Hadlee has been chair of Youthline for the last five years, formerly as chair of the Youthline management team.

ENDS

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