Healthy and Resilient | The Salvation Army

Healthy and Resilient

Healthy and Resilient - Stories and Highlights from the year

This year 807 clients were assisted with reintegration.
81% of client have not reoffended after one year.
 

Mark’s Story
Mark Pellett is one of those rare creatures: someone who truly loves their work. Now the Southern Division regional manager for Reintegration Services, Mark initially turned down an offer of a job with the service. 
A baker at the time, he was approached by family friend Glen Buckner, the national operations manager of Reintegration Services to see if he would join the Reintegration team. 
He said no, as he was enjoying his role, but by the time Glen asked again, Mark had been made redundant and was seeking a career that would offer hope and help to people. ‘I was at a crossroads in my life,’ says Mark. 
‘My family has always helped homeless people, giving them food and showing our boys there are homeless people in other places than New Zealand. I wanted to help people.’ 
Glen knew the couple, and Mark says Glen told him he had been praying for someone to come and join the team, ‘and my name kept coming up’. He did a shift, as a trial, and decided that this was the new direction to follow in life.

 

New Zealand communities continue to experience and witness harm caused by the excessive use of alcohol and other drugs. 

These Salvation Army programmes help people harmed by addictions:

Bridge 

Provides a range of specialist addiction treatment services for people experiencing alcohol and drug addictions. Despite Covid-19 restrictions and challenges the Bridge services were able to pivot and flex to ensure that residential services continued to operate, while community services moved to alternative modalities such as telephone and social media as required.

Oasis

The Salvation Army Oasis helps people who are experiencing harm from gambling, either directly through their own gambling, or indirectly via a family member. 

During the year Oasis assisted 2190 people across Aotearoa New Zealand to address the personal and familial impacts of harmful gambling through a combination of brief interventions, counselling, education and other assistance.

 

Reintegration Services provide wraparound support and accommodation to help people rebuild their lives after prison and reintegrate back into the community, including through preparation for work. 

A range of professional staff bring a combination of clinical knowledge, cultural worldviews and lived experiences to empower people to take control of their lives as we support them in a smooth transition back into society and to make lasting change.  

There has been an increased acceptance for employment opportunities of the people who successfully complete our programmes, with a number of employers taking on more than one client. 

 

To read the full section of Healthy and Resilience in the Annual Report 21-22, click here.