Hamilton youth worker goes back to school to help rangatahi improve mental health

Hamilton youth worker, Rāniera Takarangi helps to support young people with mental health issues.

Hamilton youth worker Rāniera Takarangi was not “too good” at school when he was younger, but has now discovered a thirst for studying that sees him excel at his dream career.

Rāniera works at Real, the youth brand of national mental health, addiction and wellbeing services provider Pathways, and has now successfully completed an apprenticeship in Whānau, Community and Social Services with Careerforce Te Pūkenga.

He says he used to struggle at school and didn’t put enough emphasis on his career, before realising that he needs to study to be better at his job.

“Studying without being paid put me off, but the apprenticeship was ideal. It was very cool to be able to learn while in paid employment [and] to set yourself up for increased pay and opportunities at work.”

The aspects of his apprenticeship that he remembers most are the self-reflection components during certain modules where apprentices are asked to document their thoughts.

This is meant to help them make sense of situations at work and understand what they did well and what they could do better in the future.

“It’s also great to be reminded to be culturally sensitive, and inclusive.”

At Real, Rāniera works with young people between 12 and 24 who have mild to moderate mental health issues.

Together with his colleagues, he helps them through the healing process and teaches them life skills and coping mechanisms to deal with social stresses, anxieties and depression.

“I help to provide a different pathway for young people - something that I could have used when I was younger. It’s extremely gratifying: It’s priceless when I see the huge changes in people. I have seen people go from not being able to leave the house, to getting into jobs, and into society. It’s awesome,” Raniera says.

But to him, his job is also about healing the intergenerational trauma.

“Unless people understand and know that there are resources out there to help, things will just continue down the generations.”

Completing his apprenticeship has Rāniera wanting to learn more: He is already looking at other programmes to expand his knowledge.

To find out more about Careerforce apprenticeship programmes visit the Careerforce website.