Joseph Morgan and his partner Veronica Tule were raising their whānau and needed support.  In the beginning, they simply wanted someone to listen, to hear their story and to offer some solid advice.Te Arawa Whānau Ora Paearahi, Ange Tipu welcomed Joseph and Veronica into the TAWO office and sat with them, talking over some of the challenges they faced.Ms Tipu helped to explain that Whānau Ora was about finding out the dreams that each family member had, and making a plan so that the whānau could work towards achieving their goals. Whānau Ora uses the strengths each whānau have and allows them to work out what goals they want to achieve.

Ms Tipu was first able to provide help and support in the area of first things first needs. As a result, Te Arawa Whānau Ora was able to assist Joe, Veronica and their four young children find new accommodation that was safe and suitable for their young whānau.

This simple action proved to the family that Whānau Ora could help make a real difference in their lives and prompted a deeper planning session with their Paearahi, which focused on what dreams they wanted to work towards.The couple sat with their Ms Tipu, grateful to know that someone was willing to listen and help them find ways to achieve their goals.  This opened up a truthful conversation around setting achievable goals, like finding employment and looking at strategies to help the whānau work towards key health goals.The short term outcomes happened quickly, Joseph joined Tāne Takitu Ake an innovative new programme, run by Korowai Aroha which sees Māori men supporting other Māori men who are working towards realising their full potential. This group of men worked together, they supported each other, shared stories of motivation and connected as whānau on their journey. After this Joseph went on to find work in the healthcare sector. Veronica was soon offered full time work at a local hotel.

“It was amazing how the simple act of finding a warm and secure home allowed our whānau to reenergise and tackle the goals we wanted to achieve,” explains Joseph.The whānau have seen the power of planning and goal-setting and are now keen on moving forward with more mid and long term goals.What the Morgan-Tule whānau found was that Te Arawa Whānau Ora encouraged them to keep talking and planning around their dreams, it also showed them that because the could achieve their short term goals that the idea of accomplishing those longer, harder to reach goals was in reach.  In their words “Te Arawa Whānau Ora are absolutely brilliant!”