To nominate an Unsung Hero for their community service and for terms and conditions go to: www.unsungheroes.org.nz
Lying at home with two broken vertebrae, Kathryn Doughty could easily have stayed on the couch.
A painful injury incurred during a rowing race ended her job as development officer for young rowers and she had four children to raise on her ACC payments.
But the self-proclaimed "born and bred Westie" from Te Atatu was determined to get her life back on track.
She battled chronic back pain to rejoin the workforce and now carries a workload that Superwoman would be proud of.
As well as working full-time co-ordinating a mentoring programme for young women from low-decile schools, Ms Doughty chairs the Auckland branch of NZ Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development, a training and networking body for youth workers.
This year, she gave up rising at 5.30am five or six times a week to coach rowing, but only because it was too difficult to combine it with her part-time study for a bachelor of arts degree.
She hopes a sociology and politics degree will help her find work in social policy so she can improve the policies that affect young people.
She has been nominated for the Herald Unsung Heroes series by workmate Tilda Bostwick. The series recognises the work people do in their communities, and five nominees will be chosen to go on a P&O cruise.
Ms Doughty says she is driven by her knowledge, gained from years of coaching rowing, "that with the right support and motivation and enthusiasm behind them [young people] can achieve remarkable things".
Ms Doughty, 39, had been raising her children (aged 13 to 22) alone for four years when the accident changed her life.
She says the 18 months after she slipped from her seat during a rowing race were horrendous - her income was cut to 80 per cent of what it was and she could no longer work, run or sit for long periods.
"To just get up off the couch and back in the workforce was really difficult," she says but adds, "Life is not for sitting on the couch. Not in my house."
At first Ms Doughty did volunteer work with young people. That led to fulltime work at the YWCA youth mentoring programme, where she helps find and match adult mentors to high school-aged girls from schools that are between decile one and four.
She says the changes she sees in girls in the programme are "outstanding", particularly the children of recent refugees and migrants.
"I saw one of our girls speak at Auckland University last year and ... she was so articulate. Her being able to describe her story in her own words and have such a powerful message was just so cool."
Like about 80 per cent of the programme graduates, the girl is at university, and is the first in her family to go there. Ms Doughty says it is that type of success that keeps her going.
The Unsung Community Heroes series is run annually in the The Herald and on nzherald.co.nz in partnership with P&O Cruises. We invited nominations from readers to recognise people who selflessly work to make a difference in their local communities.
Some will be selected to feature in the paper and on nzherald.co.nz. Five will be chosen to join a P&O winter cruise.
