Rebekah Elise Roberts

I am friendly and approachable with a passion for supporting those going through difficult challenges in their lives. I believe that I am a critical thinker, have excellent communication skills and great teamwork skills. I am easily adaptable and approach new experiences with great curiosity. I believe that I am able to build good relationships and rapport with those I am supporting, and other professionals that I am working alongside.

• Seasons for Growth children's programme accredited facilitator
• Parenting through Separation accredited facilitator
• Completed Te Pou Mental Health First Aid
• Completed MHERC De-Escalation

• Being a Mana Ake Kaimahi involves working alongside families, schools, and other organisations and services, in order to facilitate positive change in the child. Mana Ake is child-centred and believes in having the input and engagement from those closest to them as being central to the success of the intervention. A large component of this role involves liaising with schools, building up rapport with teachers and the pastoral care team, and offering advice and guidance around how to best support the child. This role has enabled me to implement various evidence-based interventions in my work with children, build upon my knowledge of child development, and increase my level of experience working with parents and caregivers, and the wider family system.
• At Presbyterian Support we run a variety of programmes, one of them being Seasons for Growth, which is a grief, loss, and change programme for children. It is a peer support programme that supports children to process the effects of grief, loss, and change. Facilitating this programme has enabled me to learn about the different stages of grief, assist children to manage uncomfortable emotions, and empowering them to feel hopeful about their future.
• Parenting through Separation is another programme at Presbyterian Support that I facilitate. This is an information programme that provides information to parents to help support their children through a parental separation. Facilitating this programme has enabled me to gain experience with working with adults when they're experiencing a heightened level of emotions and navigating a big change in their personal lives.
• I volunteered at Radio Lollipop in 2017. This organisation helps relieve stress from unwell children in hospital through play. This involved visiting children in hospital and spending time with them playing. This experience put me in environments where children and their families were feeling very uncomfortable emotions. The skills I gained included learning how to respond appropriately to children and their families.