Joshua Foundation is a Child Youth & Family Approved organisation.
Joshua Foundation staff are members of the Canterbury Youth workers Collective
Joshua Foundation Youth Program
The Purpose of the Joshua Foundation is to provide a specifically designed programme that targets youth and youth at risk within our Community. This programme is based upon sound ethical values and moral principals, therefore empowering youth to fulfil ambitions and dreams through sound leadership, competence, courage, clarity, integrity and character.
This programme will empower Youth to become disciplined, resourceful, confident and self reliant with the emphasis being placed upon fostering initiative, building self esteem and developing a personal self belief.
We believe it is important to address current trends which see both self destructive behaviour and negative attitudes within young people. The program aims to connect with these youth empowering them to establish a life vision, set goals and then supporting these young people over a protracted period to facilitate the necessary changes to allow the young person to achieve their vision. We provide learning opportunities for youth to develop sound life skills in order to better prepare them to take their place, add value and contribute to New Zealand Society.
To facilitate change in young people and their environment we place a large emphasis on change management and discuss resistance to change particularly for those youth who are stuck in an environment which is destructive rather than constructive.
In most cases the young people that Joshua Foundation assist’s, tend to present with the following characteristics that can be seen in young offenders.
- Lack of personal pride and Cultural Identity.
- Frequently changing living situations.
- Having family problems and in the past poor parental monitoring.
- Demonstrating Anti-Social behaviour.
- Displaying Aggressiveness and Anger towards family.
- Displaying poor self management including poor lateral thinking skills and basic problem solving.
- Displaying poor self esteem and confidence.
- A clear lack of motivation towards personal education and preparation for the wider workforce.
The Joshua Foundations strategy to address these issues is to provide both effective and robust programmes that meet the needs of the young person. Accordingly Joshua foundation conducts programmes from 10 days through to 12-months. The following is an example of a 12-month program.
The primary intervention will be based upon addressing the young person’s low self esteem and confidence, their time management, organisation and problem solving skills. To compliment this; emphasis will be placed upon the young person identifying a clear vision for their future which will be supported by goals, and achievable benchmarks that have time frames placed on there achievement. The young person will also be introduced to personality profiling which will allow them to understand why they act the way they do in certain situations.
Tertiary intervention measures that will be initiated to reduce the probability of the young persons offending are:
- Drug and Alcohol education. (To be reviewed and considered if appropriate)
- Anger management training.
- Positive mentoring with the emphasis upon self determination and empowerment.
- Education about the way he should react in different social settings with emphasis placed upon peer pressure and its destructive nature upon his actions.
Outdoor Program:
This component of the program will see the young person participating in outdoor activities with the Goal of introducing them to the New Zealand outdoors and allow them to develop a respect for their Country. Through this activity these young people will develop confidence, self esteem and outdoors skills.
The projected outcome for the young person at the end of the 12-month program is to make them aware of their environment and how their past and present behaviour is affecting their outlook on life. The Joshua Foundation will instil a sense of responsibility within the young person that will allow them to assume responsibility for themselves, their peer group and their wider family. The program will also provide learning opportunities for the young person to develop sound life skills in order to better prepare them to take their place, add value and contribute to New Zealand Society.
