Creating Safe Spaces/Āhurutanga

The importance of safe spaces

In this topic you will explore the concept of safe spaces, why it is important in positive youth development, and how you as a youth worker participate in the creation of safe spaces for young people.

Subclause 20.1 in the Code of Ethics for Youth Work in Aotearoa New Zealand directly addresses how crucial this is when working with young people¹:

Safe spaces can be described as a place where young people can relax and fully express themselves without fear of being made uncomfortable or challenged on account of their biological sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability.² Safe spaces protect each person’s self-respect and dignity by requiring each person to respect others.

Safe spaces are essential for positive youth development. As youth workers we are encouraged to think about safe spaces holistically and to consciously create these spaces. Safe spaces can be physical spaces or digital/online ones; they are psychological, emotional, physical, relational and spiritual.

In the last module, you were introduced to Te Whare Tapa Whā and the Circle of Courage, two models that conceptualise wellbeing holistically. Both these models are helpful in the creation of safe spaces for youth.

Take a moment to recall what you remember about these two models before continuing.

We can use these models to help identify factors that may lead to a young person feeling unsafe, and to identify the interventions and actions that can be implemented to create safety. It is the young person themself who defines whether they feel safe, so it should not be assumed by the youth worker or their organisation that a safe space has been created without checking in with the young person.

Reflective Question

How do these models, Te Whare Tapa Whā and the Circle of Courage, help us think about holistic safety both in relation to young people and to the youth worker?

Make notes of your thoughts, in preparation for assessment on this topic.

Review of Te Whare Tapa Whā

You may remember that Te Whare Tapa Whā was developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984.³ It describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui (meeting house) with four walls resting on the whenua (land, roots). Each wall represents a dimension of health and wellbeing. It likens a healthy person to a house with four strong walls. If any of the walls are not well maintained, it threatens the entire structure; similarly, if any of the major aspects of a person's holistic health are out of balance or not well-nurtured then it affects the whole person.

1. Taha Hinengaro represents the mental and emotional aspect; heart, mental wellbeing, thought processes, resilience and feelings.
2. Taha Tinana represents the physical aspect, body, nutrition, exercise and development.
3. Taha Wairua represents the spiritual aspect, religion, spirituality, connection, beliefs, culture, and purposeful or meaningful life.
4. Taha Whānau represents the people aspect: whakapapa, family, culture, history and identity, social interactions, support and family systems.
5. Whenua on which the four walls of the whare sit. The common understanding of whenua is land and the wider environment, but in the context of this model it also represents a person’s roots, their culture and sense of belonging.

We can apply the model of Te Whare Tapa Whā when it comes to creating and maintaining holistic safety as it relates to wellbeing and thriving – a focus of positive youth development.

The table below has some examples of how Te Whare Tapa Whā can be applied to holistic safety for youth. The model can be used to help determine actions and strategies for creating safety, and as a tool to determine issues that contribute to an unsafe environment.

Te Taha Tinana (Physical wellbeing)

• Free from physical violence
• Safe, well-structured building and environment
• Free to explore our physical potential in sports and physical recreational activities

Te Taha Whānau (Relationships, family and social wellbeing)

• Free from bullying, harassment and verbal abuse
• Free to express ourselves culturally without fear
• We accept the diversity of values and cultures of the people around us
• Our culture and diversity is accepted by organisations, institutions and youth workers (in the youth development programme)

Te Taha Hinengaro (Mental and emotional wellbeing)

• Able to speak without fear of repercussion or retaliation
• Appropriate, healthy relationships between youth workers and youth, and between young people
• Confidentiality and trust
• Free from bullying and harassment (emotional and/or sexual)

Te Taha Wairua (Spiritual wellbeing)

• Opportunity for religious expression (prayer, songs, etc.)
• Access to spiritual guidance (ministers, tohunga, imam)

Whenua (Connection to the land and environment)

Create and maintain safety through attention to nurturing young people’s roots, culture and sense of belonging. For example, providing opportunities to enjoy nature, spending time on a young person’s marae, or facilitating activities that explore a young person’s own (and their family’s) ‘story’ or history.

Each young person has their own unique safety needs. Te Whare Tapa Whā is one tool you can use to help determine those unique needs. You can also use it as a tool to design activities and responses to meet those needs.

Task: Te Whare Tapa Whā actions to promote holistic safety

Draw a table like the one above, with five boxes. In each box note down some ideas of what the needs and issues might be for the young people you work with and specific things you or your organisation could do to promote holistic safety.

Here are some examples of the kinds of things you or your organisation might consider.

Te Taha Tinana

• offer refreshments and kai during activities
• provide opportunities to exercise, play sports or kēmu (games)

Te Taha Hinengaro

• provide access to counselling services
• incorporate youth mentorship into your programme
• use a peer-to-peer buddy system

Te Taha Whānau

• provide access to family or whānau counselling services
• organise activities that bring family together
• research and explore whakapapa

Te Taha Wairua

• support participation in a church fellowship, or other religious centre
• give space for prayer or other spiritual rituals

Whenua

• visit marae
• participation in outdoor activities, especially those that get young people out into nature or enhance their appreciation of their natural environment

Designing an activity using Te Whare Tapa Whā 

How could you use the model of Te Whare Tapa Whā to design an activity? For example, imagine you are facilitating a workshop with a group of young people and use Te Whare Tapa Whā to design your icebreaker activity. 

Let us start with taha tinana. You will want to make sure the activity is physically inclusive for everyone. If there is a range of physical abilities and capabilities within the group you are working with, you need to think about how everyone can participate. For instance, can you modify the activity so someone with a disability (including visual, hearing or speech impairment) could also participate?  

Next, we look at tana hinengaro. How can the activity contribute to the positive mental and emotional wellbeing of everyone? Participants could start the workshop with an activity that gets everyone in the group talking about what is positive or that they like about themselves or what they are good at. This helps to create a more positive, affirming emotional environment even for those who struggle to present a positive image of themselves. The activity could also ask peers or youth workers to highlight positive attributes and capabilities of others in the group if they already know each other, or after the activity to identity what everyone contributed or did well. It is important to be specific, so young people can see how a positive image of themselves relates to concrete behaviours. For example, rather than simply telling the young person they are kind and caring, report to them what they did during the activity that showed how they took care of others. Focus on positive associations that enable everyone to see themselves and each other in their best light. 

Taha wairua is about being in a space where everyone’s wairua can settle and come together to achieve a common purpose. An icebreaker activity should enable everyone to connect with each other and to start to feel comfortable and connected. But also where they can bring their full selves into the space that respects diversity and does not exclude or judge someone due to their beliefs, values and identity. You may also want a starter activity that enable participants to explore or orientate themselves to the physical space they are in. You want everyone to feel included. 

Taha whānau is about safety in relationships, family and social wellbeing. An activity that enables everyone to express and share their preferences, culture, language, values and personalities encourages acceptance of diversity. An activity that helps everyone to learn each other’s names using the correct pronunciation and understanding what is unique and special about their background can help a group to form new social bonds. 

Finally, to address the fifth dimension of whenua, what is something about your icebreaker activity that helps to place the workshop on a strong foundation for the group? How does it help bring them together, to start to put down roots, build positive rapport and start to trust each other, especially if later in the workshop more difficult issues are addressed? Design an icebreaker activity that helps the group to start forming positive associations and connections with each other. 

Review of the Circle of Courage

As you learned in the previous module, The Circle of Courage is a model of positive youth development that was originally developed in the Unites States.⁴ It draws on traditional First Nations or Indigenous American child rearing practices that are based on four universal growth needs for all children and young people: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.

The Circle of Courage model uses the symbol of the medicine wheel to represent intertwining parts of the human character essential for healthy emotional development. It is important for people to prosocially connect to each other (attachment, belonging), to take pride in areas that highlight and develop competence and strength, to learn new skills and knowledge (achievement, mastery), to be able to self-manage actions and make good choices (autonomy, independence), and to be inclined to helping others (altruism, generosity).

Like the four walls of Te Whare Tapa Whā, the dimensions of the wheel are inseparable, they affect and respond to each other and the whole.

Mending a distorted or broken spirit

The Circle of Courage provides a tool to help assess areas of vulnerability and risk in young people and to help design strategies for creating and maintaining safe spaces for youth. Each dimension has its own ‘spirits’ or qualities. Safety issues arise when that spirit is ‘distorted’ or ‘broken’ in some way.⁵

Some examples of characteristics that indicate when a spirit is distorted or broken are given below:

Belonging

Mastery

Independence

Generosity

Task: Circle of Courage actions to promote holistic safety

For each of the four dimensions in this model there are many strategies you could use to create safe spaces and promote positive youth development.

As you read through the section on each dimension, take notes on ideas or strategies you could use to create safety for the young people you work with using the Circle of Courage. Use the examples given as a guide. Think about the similarities and differences between Te Whare Tapa Whā and the Circle of Courage models.

The Spirit of Belonging

A sense of belonging is fostered when we establish relationships based upon mutual trust and respect. These relationships help to create a sense of safety. Here are some ideas for how we can start to achieve this:

• Design activities and facilitate interactions that promote environments and group dynamics with a sense of cohesion in which each young person feels like a valued and important member.
• Regularly give positive encouragement and feedback that is specific and focused on ability and contribution.
• Recognise the individual; work with them to identify and use their creative talents.
• Set clear expectation and boundaries.
• Focus on reinforcing positive behaviour – be specific with your statements.
• Challenge inappropriate behaviour without humiliating or causing others to judge or look down on their peers; always focus on specific actions, words or behaviours not on the innate nature of the person. Rather than someone being called out or defined as ‘mean’, focus on how specific actions and words caused harm to others.

The Spirit of Mastery

Each young person should be given every opportunity to develop competence in all areas of life. Lack of self-worth, frustration and anger are often expressed as unsafe behaviours. Some strategies for promoting mastery:

• Help young people to set realistic, achievable goals to support an increase in achievement and success; when young people can see their own progress their sense of self-worth and competence improves.
• Provide opportunities for young people to learn problem solving strategies and planning skills.
• Teach and encourage collaboration – working with others.
• Develop and practise assertiveness skills in safe spaces before using them in situations where the young people need to speak up for themselves.

The Spirit of Independence

A sense of autonomy is a powerful motivator. Young people grow and develop when they have a sense of control over their lives. Some strategies for creating independence:

• Model participating in decision-making frameworks and processes in group settings and in all interactions in which decisions are being made about the young person.
• Provide choices for activities and options for young people to plan, organise and set outcomes.
• Provide opportunities to develop and enhance self-control and personal responsibility; facilitate and support youth-led activities.
• Allow young people to face consequences for their behaviour.

The Spirit of Generosity

A person’s sense of their self-worth and esteem is greatly increased when they learn to help and work with others. Without opportunity to share their talents and skills with others it is difficult for young people to becoming caring, responsible, and productive adults. Here are some ideas to nurture the Spirit of Generosity:

• Develop the young people’s listening and communication skills.
• Encourage youth to express their opinions.
• Foster cooperative interpersonal relationships.

Designing an activity using the Circle of Courage

How could you use the model of the Circle of Courage to design an activity? For example, imagine you are facilitating a workshop with a group of young people again, but this time you want to incorporate the Circle of Courage into the design of your icebreaker activity.

Let’s start with the Spirit of Belonging. You want an activity that everyone can participate in, to start to get to know everyone and make positive connections with each other and with the physical setting for the workshop. This might involve learning each other’s names and finding out interesting or positive things about each other. Have people work together to start to feel belonging.

Next, we look at the Spirit of Mastery – as this is the first activity, it should not be too complex. It should be something everyone can achieve. Later activities could be made more complex or difficult as they build on knowledge or skills learned during the workshop. The activity should allow everyone to feel that they can participate and achieve.

To align with the Spirit of Independence, there could be parts of the activity that allow some of the young people to lead and facilitate. As the first activity, it should set the tone for autonomy and be something that gives participants a sense of confidence in themselves and in each other. Young people should participate and where possible make decisions and determine the outcome. Though it may be appropriate for the very first activity to have more direction because the group may not yet know how well they can trust each other.

The Spirit of Generosity could be fostered so that even if some people have to leave the main action or not take on a leadership or decision-making role, they can still cheer on and support their peers. They can also take responsibility for things like handing out props, remembering people’s names to setting a tone for cooperation and positive, supportive relationships throughout the workshop.

Safety issues for young people online

Technology is an integral part of the lives of young people. Many young people actively engage with social media and streaming services every day. It is a great way to stay in touch, but it can cause youth to compare their lives against others’ or feel like they need to be constantly connected.

Safety-related issues in the online environment include:

• Online bullying and trolling
• Exposure to harmful and upsetting content online, e.g. violent and/or sexual content
• Exposure to ‘grooming’
• Online relationships
• Unvalidated, incorrect or harmful information, including information about engaging in harmful behaviours (e.g. ‘pro-ana’ sites that provide information on how to hide anorexia or other eating disorders and give ‘advice’ on how to binge/purge)
• Online gaming addiction

Online safety resources

For information about online safety issues there are some good resources available online for parents/caregivers and youth. These resources will also be useful for youth workers as they consider strategies for promoting online safety for youth.

Keep It Real Online is a multilingual site run by the New Zealand Government that provides advice to children, young people and their parents.⁶ You may have seen some of the very inventive advertisements on television or YouTube to promote this website.

Netsafe is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting online safety. They say that by ‘taking a technology-positive approach to the challenges digital technology presents, we work to help people in New Zealand take advantage of the opportunities available through technology by providing practical tools, support and advice for managing online challenges.’⁷

It would also be useful to read ‘Digital Check-up for Youth Workers’ on pages 55 and 56 in the Code of Ethics for Youth Work in Aotearoa New Zealand for some great advice on what you need to consider and how to approach online safety issues as someone who works with young people.¹

Task: Reflect on your own experiences

Think about your own experiences online as a young person. Do you remember being targeted for harassment, experiencing vulnerabilities, or being exposed to disturbing content. What are the actions you took to increase your online safety? Did you ask for help or advice at the time from anyone who was older than you?

Compare the actions you took with the ones that are suggested in the links and resources above – could you have done anything differently? What can you take from your own experience into your work with young people?

Write these thoughts and reflections down, as you may want to expand on these points in your journaling.

As youth workers, it is important to consider not only the strategies and actions that can be taken to create holistic safety, but to also think about how you as a worker can have a positive or negative impact on safety.

In the previous topics we went through the Code of Ethics for Youth Work in Aotearoa New Zealand.¹ Creating and maintaining holistic safe spaces for youth is part of what it means to carry out youth work in a way that is professional, safe and ethical. Under Clause 16 ‘Ngā tauārai | Boundaries’ on page 36, subclause 16.5 states:

Task: Safety clauses and subclauses in the Code of Ethics

The Code of Ethics can guide you in how to create and maintain safe relationships working with youth. This is not only Clause 20 ‘Haumaru | Safety’ – there are other clauses and subclauses that are relevant to maintaining various aspects of safety for young people.

Risk of negative outcomes

When thinking about safety, our minds often turn to the notion of risk. Understanding risk and addressing or managing risk is important in the creation of safe spaces.

People tend to use the word risk to refer to negative outcomes. Risk is seen as the potential for pain, distress, harm or loss that could result from an event or something that someone has done or not done. Negative risks of this sort are safety issues that have to be actively managed to be avoided or minimised. These risks can be categorised as the risk of:

• deliberate self-harm, including suicide
• unintentional harm to self (exploitation, bullying, etc.)
• violence (intentional or unintentional) to others (intimidation, bullying – physical, emotional, and/or sexual)

Additionally, where a young person is experiencing mental health or addiction issues, the risk to the health or safety of the young person getting worse is significant. Addiction is used broadly to include problematic use of alcohol or other substances, or behavioural issues related to excessive video gaming, etc.

In any assessment of a young person’s situation and circumstances, risks should be considered as part of the whole picture.

Positive dimension of risk

Risk does not always mean risk of harm, and it also has a positive dimension. Risk taking is important for human growth and development and is common in everyone’s lives. Every opportunity we face comes with risks and risk taking in the hope of a positive outcome. Risk taking is something we do frequently in positive ways.

In terms of youth development, positive risks help young people to develop their potential. Risks can mean opportunity, such as taking on a new course of study, joining a group or entering new relationships. Furthermore, risk enables youth to equip them themselves to respond effectively to issues that are outside their control like parental divorce or loss of employment.

In keeping with youth development principles and goals, youth feel more able to make choices about risks and manage risks when they:

• have autonomy over decisions and activity in their lives
• feel well and stable enough to make meaningful life choices
• have power and control in a situation
• have enough information to make a decision
• can call on others they trust for information and support
• can learn from their mistakes or experience
• feel positively empowered to make the best of opportunities.

When these factors are developing or are present in a young person’s life, they are better able to transcend life’s challenges.

Summary of risk

When working with young people to develop and implement decisions that lead to change and contribute to the creation of holistic safety, it can be useful to acknowledge and remember these important points:

• Risk is a part of life.
• Harm sometimes occurs as the result of taking risks, but it does not necessarily mean the decision-making process itself was flawed.
• Even if no harm occurs, it does not necessarily follow that the risk taken was a good one.
• Risk assessment and management are useful and effective tools and should be part of a holistic assessment of a young person’s circumstances. These tools can go a long way, but not all the way, towards creating successful outcomes.
• Assessment of risk involves making difficult decisions about the values and beliefs of all parties involved.

Interventions and referrals

As an introduction to intervention and referral, look again at the Code of Ethics for Youth Work in Aotearoa New Zealand, in particular Clause 17 ‘Kia mataara ki ngā ripa tauārai | Knowing your limits’, which is on page 37.¹ These reflection questions relate to the ethical expectations for youth workers set out by the subclauses under Clause 17.

• 17.1 – Do you understand your role and responsibilities, and recognise the limitations of the youth work relationship?
• 17.2 – Do you always makes sure the young people you work with also understand the limits and boundaries of the relationship?
• 17.3 – Are you aware of your own skills and competencies and consider whether it is within your capabilities to take on a particular role or task? Do not take on work with young people that is beyond your skills and competencies.
• 17.4 – Do you seek advice and/or refer young people on to other services when it is best for them?
• 17.5 – And do you follow-up those referrals in a timely manner (within a short time of them being made or received)?

Assessment, intervention and referral

To understand the differences and the relationships between assessment, intervention and referral it can help to start with some definitions.

Resources on interventions

Please have a look through the following resources on interventions for young people.

This is the Australian Government’s Department of Health webpage on interventions for young people.⁸ This resource is intended for those working with young people in crisis; it sets out how to approach working with the young person to form an intervention and plan. While the source is obviously Australian, its advice can also apply to working with young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Referral examples

Here are some examples of referral forms for various addiction and mental health services. Look through these forms to gain a better idea of what is involved in referring a young person on to a service better equipped to help them.

• Refer to Altered High – a referral form for Altered High, a youth AOD (alcohol or other drugs) service in Auckland⁹
• Youth Referral Form – an online referral form for Odyssey House, another AOD service¹⁰
• Kari Centre and Youth Mental Health Service Referral Information – information and referral form for an Auckland-based mental health service for children and adolescents¹¹
• Your Choice – a webpage of information with a link to a referral form for a mental health programme run by HealthWEST, a West Auckland service provider¹²

Explore further

If you would like to explore this further from a mental health perspective, you may find the article ‘Addressing mental health and wellbeing in young people’ from the Best Practice Journal interesting.¹³ However, remember not all youth workers will use this model. They may use different types of assessments as part of their mahi – for example, HEADSSS (a holistic assessment) and SACS, which is a screening tool for substance use.

For this assessment you will use either Te Whare Tapa Whā or the Circle of Courage model to design an activity relevant to your work with youth that supports holistic safety.

You will also read scenarios and explain how you would respond to each in terms of intervention and referral.

Kei runga noa atu!

You are now ready for Task 2 and Task 3 of Assessment 2.1.