“I want whanau to reach their dreams and aspirations.”
Ngaro completed his studies with LearningWorks many years ago, in 2016. But he recently reached out to his facilitator John to acknowledge that it was learning from the programme that helped pave his way forward. Ngaro was a client at Te Taiwhenua that turned employee. He says, “The team at Te Taiwhenua, back at that earlier time, changed my life and gave me purpose.” He admits he was shoulder tapped to go on the course and it wasn’t something that he was interested in doing at the time.
Ngaro says to John, “A lot has changed since I met you. I’m still at Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga but now I lead two teams. Hiwai-te-Rangi (Low to Moderate Mental Health) and Whanau Ora (Dreams and Aspirations).”
He talks about his journey, “Earlier, I became a domestic violence facilitator. I worked with those in the too hard basket. I got really good outcomes with the Ministry of Justice and Corrections. Then, I became an endorsed driving instructor. This involved working with clients with complex mental health, those with low self-esteem, PTSD, and anxiety. But I rocked that too with only three non-passes for the year.”
It was in the Business course all those years ago, when he delivered his presentation for the final assessment, that his passion for helping others was given a massive boost. In the room that day, he got a referral from one of the other participants.
That person was in a bad space, but fast forward to today and he too is doing well in both his personal and working life. And there are so many similar stories from other whanau, thanks to Ngaro reaching out to them.
Ngaro is passionate about his work with whanau and mental health. He walks the talk because he’s been in that dark place himself. His nickname is Nuds (No one Understands Depression, suffering in silence). He knows from his own experience that whanau are suffering in silence.
Nuds has a dream to take his story the length and breadth of Aotearoa New Zealand. He wants to encourage others to look forward to their tomorrows and he knows that positive outcomes begin with korero and people sharing their pūkenga (skills) and tohungatanga (expertise) with aroha (passion) and weriweri (empathy).