Nigel Latta and Whangarei Youth Space panellists. From left Katie Wells, Wirihana Croft-Malcom, Nigel Latta, Anahera Pickering, and Alaek Tua-Taiapo.
Nigel Latta and Whangarei Youth Space panellists. From left Katie Wells, Wirihana Croft-Malcom, Nigel Latta, Anahera Pickering, and Alaek Tua-Taiapo.
Hope and a sense of connection are essential for Northland youth, Kiwi psychologist and parenting expert Nigel Latta says.
A potty-mouthed Latta frankly discussed suicide, self-harm, anxiety, depression and - above all - resilience at Whangārei Youth Space's third annual WYS Talks on Wednesday.
The event focused on how this year's major global events - mainly Covid-19 - had affected Whangārei youth.
Latta's discussion echoed the experiences shared by three local teenagers on the Youth Voice panel, who described struggling in a climate saturated by anxiety, uncertainty and isolation.
Whangārei Future Leaders representative and panellist Wirihana Croft-Malcolm, 18, expressed his disappointment at the disconnection between young people and their community.
"Whangārei is a very cold town - I only meet people at parties. There are places like Whangārei Future Leaders and Whangārei Youth Space but it is for an acquired group," Croft Malcolm said.
"Whangārei lacks diversity especially for LGBT groups. I know too many people who are too scared to let themselves shine."
The health impact of loneliness is as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, Latta told a stunned audience of local teenagers, parents and youth workers.
Nigel Latta speaks about resilience at Whangarei Youth Space's WYS Talks 2020. Photo / Tania Whyte
"One thing the brain really needs is a sense of connection," he said. "Sometimes we just want another human being to see that you are there and you exist."
Youth Advisory Group representative and panellist Katie Wells described how "simple things have somehow become so much harder".
Her co-panellist and Whangārei Youth Space youth worker Alaek Tua-Taiapo, 16, agreed: "There's so much uncertainty. What does the future look like now?"
Latta - the host of the television shows The Politically Incorrect Guide to Teenagers and The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show - stressed how hope is imperative to a young person "believing things can be different".
"We need to give them hope that it will not always be like this."
Latta tabled resilience as a skill people need to practice alongside self-regulation so they are able to independently calm themselves.
"You don't choose things that happen to you but the last fundamental freedom we have is choosing how you respond to that," Latta said.
He also encouraged the audience to help young people challenge the internal messages their brains give them.
"Just because the world says you are this or that - world go f*** yourself. I'm not going to be that person you said I am."
WYS Talks was launched in 2017 after Whangārei Youth Space identified a need to bring leaders in the youth development space to Northland as WYS often couldn't afford to travel to large conferences in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, and knew others in Te Tai Tokerau faced the same problem.
