Pillars Inc
“Is an innovative long term, prevention programme serving children with a parent in prison. Established in 1988, their services are delivered by professional social workers and volunteer mentors.
They use the natural and professional networks already available to the child, their parents and their family/whanau through a family wraparound that encompasses one-on-one social work support, children of prisoners mentoring, and strengthening families meetings.
They have been a national leader in this work for over two decades, through supporting families to make positive change and remain and live crime free. The Mentoring Programme is one of the earliest programmes introduced in New Zealand. It provides wraparound services both in South Auckland and Christchurch and a nationwide Helpline Service.
Their services are child focused and family-centred, ensuring that the care and protection of the child is paramount at all times. Pillars’ services are designed to affect the risk and protective factors associated with criminal behaviour at both the individual and family levels. Services are flexible but require at least 12 months of participation in the programme. It relies heavily on volunteer support to provide the mentoring programme.
Their volunteer mentors base their mentoring relationships on six ethical values that everyone can agree on, values that are not political, religious, or culturally biased. These six Pillars are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. They use a strengths-based approach that builds on family strengths and resources as the best means of achieving sustainable change for children and their families/whanau.”
RELATED
