10/06/2026
Last month, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all our Youth Board representatives come together in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland for our Leadership Training Weekend. This consisted of people flying up from Christchurch and Wellington, and more travelling from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty!
These four days consisted of relevant and engaging workshops, including having Deb from Suntory Oceania lead our group through role modelling, life-journaling and self-reflection. We also loved having the Interact Disability Arts Trust lead us through our rights as individuals.
The Youth Board also joined Tāmaki Estuary Protection Society (TEPS) for an environmental clean-up, as a chance to put leadership into action and give back to the community!
Alice Sampson, Youth Board member from the Bay of Plenty, found the Leadership Getaway truly rewarding. "Having the experience on the Youth Board is challenging but is good to be able to help out our region and give back. It was fun to learn something different about the environment and volunteer by picking up rubbish," says Alice. "Making new friends on the Youth Board has been one of my favourite parts, it was cool to catch up on the weekend and talk about what we’ve been up to in our regions for the past year."
Joseph Blake from the Waikato enjoyed learning what being a leader looks like. "What I learned about leadership is to be one of them and hear other leader's ideas and what we can do as a team moving forward," says Joseph. "We all want to be our own leader: to have a voice, to share and to listen to each other".
Gabrielle Salmon from Auckland loved connecting with others from around the country. " It was great to see everyone there," says Gabrielle. " I had a blast; it was fantastic weekend."
Amy Hyde has been a part of Recreate in Christchurch for many years now, and she loves these opportunities to learn and upskill. "During the weekend we had Deb come in to do a leadership and life journey workshop, we got to share our life journey with each other," says Amy. "We also had Acting 2 Advocate present and they did some skits about Human Rights and it taught us how we can stand up for yourself and who we can go to if we feel like we can't. I thought this was really good and useful to have those skills."
Deb from Suntory Oceania was delighted to present a workshop for our Youth Board, and we are so thankful for Deb for providing valuable insights from her experience. "As part of our community partnership with Recreate NZ, I had the opportunity to support their Youth Leadership camp, delivering a session on leadership and the importance of role modelling," says Deb. "Spending time with the Youth Board members was incredible. I walked away feeling genuinely humbled by this impressive group of young people, who want to be seen for so much more than their disability. Their openness, insight and passion for making a positive impact in their communities also prompted me to reflect on my own approach to leadership and role modelling."
Thank you to everyone who made this very special leadership opportunity possible, and to Suntory Oceania for supporting our Youth Board and their leadership development.
