We need your help please

The Miriam Centre :

Breaking the intergenerational cycle of violence, abuse and neglect. Supporting individuals, family whanau and communities to heal The Miriam Centre Child Abuse Research and Treatment Trust is a not forprofit community-based, bi-cultural, Charitable Trust established in 1988 in recognition of the extent of intergenerational domestic violence, abuse and neglect of children, young people throughout Northland and of the importance of identifying the underlying reasons in order to design and implement safe, effective (a) risk investigation and immediate safety and child protection procedures (b) intervention strategies able to facilitate long term change. We support individuals, family whanau and communities to identify, face, address, to heal and to develop positive nonviolent compassionate nurture and pathways forward for their own. Our wrap around intervention is specifically tailored to each client situation and; 1.) Addresses the immediate issues of safety, care and protection, and behavioural change. 2.) Empowers the client and family whanau to identify, face and address any underlying factors and or patterns that sustain or perpetuate the problem. What makes the Miriam Centre special? What we do works and because of this we are trusted by the community. Our reputation has been built over 25 years of making a difference. We create a safe space where people are able to identify and address the difficult issues keeping them stuck in the destructive cycle. (Of the 1,678 new people referred in the last financial year, 70% came from the community itself, the rest from schools, health services, CYF, Police, Community Corrections , the Courts, Iwi social service providers, other NGO.)
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What is the problem? People come to us with all sorts of presenting issues: patterns of violent, abusive and emotionally damaging behaviour ( sexual as well as physical ) frequently reflected in their own children, their alcohol and drug problems etc etc,(see below) most often resulting from or established by a childhood of abuse, violence and neglect and poverty of warmth and compassionate nurture. We live as we have learnt and (without skilled supportive help) these tragic childhood experiences are so easily perpetuated, and so the pattern repeats itself in the next generation. Beyond the individual or family in crisis is a community experiencing constant accounts of physical, sexual and emotional violence. Four children per day are referred to the local CYF office. In the last week (Monday 4th March until Friday 9th) the Miriam Centre received 10 such referrals! News stories of the most distressing nature: of rapes; violent robberies; of drug addicted or drunk adults with children in their direct care; a young Mother beaten, brutally, to death by her equally young partner (there have been four similar murders in the last 18 months); stabbings and violent attacks in our city centre, night clubs and aggressive standover bullying in our schools. Alongside stories that we are suffering the highest levels of unemployment in the country , educational failure in large numbers of our school leavers ,poor housing , poor health, gambling, that we are the drug growing/using capital of the country etc etc. As well as the unreported stories of a roving gang of young people, (girls and boys), engaged in beatings and robbery attacks in suburban streets, as well as of the ongoing sexual, physical and emotional violence taking place inside families and homes on a daily basis. These are the stories of Northland. Alongside the many wonderful things we have to share about ourselves, we have an undeniable problem and it is passed down from parent to child and passed on to everyone in our community, no matter how far removed. For an individual, the downstream effects of a harmful childhood (of sexual, physical abuse, neglect and of a poverty of warm compassionate nurture, the
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normalisation of violence, drug smoking, the lack of hope) experienced by many of our Northland children we see in this generation (as it was for their parents and grandparents before them), are often: Drug and alcohol misuse Poor academic achievement and failure illiteracy, deficit of skill-base Ill-equipped for employment Inadequate or un-employment Poverty/inadequate financial resources. Poor housing Inadequate nutrition, and lack of understanding of nutrition Health problems (such as abscesses in their teeth going untreated) Alienation from productive society (worsening the downward spiral) Harm caused during pregnancy (poor maternal health, nutrition, smoking, alcohol and drug misuse violence, resulting in vulnerable babies, hyper alert, anxious children with a failure to thrive) Our specialist team works through all of these because, unless recognised and addressed and healed, for so many people, these become part of a circular trap, blocking change. And the cycle begins again. A lot of what we see of Northland is a culture of lack of hope, despair, lack of compassion for others and lack of belief that things can be any different. people in personal survival mode.... but within this is also great hope. In 25 years of practice, we have never come across a parent who didnt want a better life for their children than they hadto be able to love and nurture their own children well , whether or not they may be able to do so at that present time. This is where the Miriam Centre is effective. By providing a safe space and the specialist help so that this change can occur enabling that person to provide their families with the love, and positive support that lead to better life outcomes. We stay in the work because we see enormous courage, healing and massive change every day! What can you do about it?

Help the Miriam Centre! We provide an intensive, wrap-around service, which halts and heals the intergenerational cycle of violence, abuse and neglect. Simply put, what we do works we have proved this. How does the Miriam Centre do it? Our multidisciplinary and bi-cultural team of therapists, counsellors and social workers,(male and female) work intensively with all aspects of a clients, family whanau and communitys life: their immediate and extended family, school and community. The purpose of this is both immediate protection from the harmful behaviours that are happening right now, and long-term change for the individual, and in turn their children, partners, families and community. We intervene in an individuals immediate presenting issues (the reason/s they have been referred to us) and address these, as well as the underlying issues that cause, and contribute to maintaining, that cycle. This way, our unique team of highly skilled specialists can help the family/ whanau, recognise, address and remove the blocks and support / help people to change, to nurture themselves and their families. The result is the life outcomes of each referred person in this generation getting better and stronger, instead of successively and hopelessly worse. We provide our services to the community free of charge because for 99.9% of our clients, violence change intervention is an unaffordable luxury. How is the Miriam Centre funded? We struggle to fund our services from a collection of government and philanthropic contracts, most of which are partially funded only and many are only short term, one-off sums. We exist by constantly applying to these Agencies/Trusts to keep the proven services going. A very small amount of our funding comes from clients (99.9% have very little themselves) as voluntary fees for services. We also receive grants and donations from the community, but in the Northland economic climate these are few and far between. The Miriam Centre has survived this way for 25 years. Of the 1,678 clients referred in the 2011/12 financial year only 51 family whanau were fully funded by the Contractor.

We funded the rest of the intervention costs by gathering together of bits and pieces from small grants, donations and constant requests for funding contracts and applications to other funders in the private sector. An extremely difficult and endless process. Does the Miriam Centre meet national standards and auditing requirements? Yes. We have an exemplary record and invite anyone considering funding The Miriam Centre to talk to us about this in detail. We hold Full Approval status with the Ministry of Social Development as a counselling /social work Agency. We hold High Trust category contracts. Our finances are audited annually. We are a registered Charitable Trust. At the beginning of this document we said that we have the trust and support of our community. The proof is in the 16,000 clients who have attended the Miriam Centre over our 25 years. 1,678 new referrals in the last financial year On average between 120 to 170, new referrals per month. We are able to provide numerous references, recommendations and letters of support, upon request. What does the Miriam Centre need to continue to serve Northland and provide these deeply essential services? We need funders and although we can do much with even small amounts, we need to find (over and above the partially funded contracts) an extra $350,000 per year, every year. It cost us $849.884 to run the Miriam Centre in the last financial year. 86% of this is in the specialist salaries, the rest tightly controlled running costs. We run on the smell of an oily rag there are no luxuries.
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Our furniture toys etc are all donated, frequently from grateful clients or small local service organisations or members of our team. Where will the money go? As a not for profit agency, we are legally bound to plough every cent we receive into the provision of services and we do just that. Our team are all highly skilled, senior practitioners and this is key to the success of our service. Here are some examples of what it costs to provide our services: Full time specialist senior therapist + Director @ $54,000pa (x 8fte) (Personal healing of childhood trauma; behavioural change, Men and Women Violence Change Programmes, Youth Violence Change and Mentoring programmes, Sexual Harmful Behaviour Interventions, A&D Counselling and recovery, Personal Change programmes, Attachment Repair Programmes) Administrative support $52,000pa (x2 fte) (statistical data recording analysis, contract reporting, financial reporting, support of Director) Full time specialist senior social workers $54,000 (x 4fte) (Counselling, practical help, addressing such issues as health, antenatal care, literacy, addiction, housing, accessing food correct benefits, educational, employment opportunities etcetera. (all significant factors in keeping people stuck in the continuing cycle of violence despair and destruction) How can we get in touch? Contact Patsy Henderson Watt Director 027 4795 338 09 4376010 patsy@xtra.co.nz