Youth In Transition

A simple change at night can make a big difference 💙

We’re incredibly grateful to BlockBlueLight NZ for donating blue-blocking glasses for the youth in our program who need them the most🙌

With screens playing such a big role in our evenings, it can be hard for the brain to switch off. Blue light from phones, TVs and lights can actually trick the brain into thinking it’s still daytime - making it harder to fall asleep.

These glasses help signal to the brain that it’s time to wind down 🌙
✨ Supporting better sleep
✨ Helping evening routines feel calmer
✨ Making mornings a little easier

For our rangatahi, building healthy routines like this is a powerful step toward long-term wellbeing.

It’s practical support like this that really matters - and we love working with partners who get it.

Thank you again, BlockBlueLight NZ, for backing our young people in such a meaningful way 💫

What an incredibly special addition to Duke House 💛

Venerable Khadro - a Buddhist monk who has shared so much wisdom and mental training with our young people - wanted to gift us something meaningful - a meditation space. We rolled up our sleeves and built a beautiful, heavy-duty bench from donated macrocarpa slabs 🪵

We also planted a rimu tree, blessed during the process 🌱 and, after a serious team effort from our amazing working bee crew, a stunning Buddha statue has found its new home 🙏

It’s more than just a bench and a garden - it’s a place for reflection, calm, and connection.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen 💛

A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteers who came together for our first working bee of 2026 this morning 💪🌱

After breakfast kindly supplied by our friends at Woolworths New Zealand - Silverdale, we got stuck into jobs around Duke House — all with one shared purpose: to keep it a tranquil, welcoming place for our young people and families who visit.

We are so grateful for your loyal support.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

As our long-established and highly successful youth su***de prevention programme moves into an exciting new phase, we would like to share an important update with our volunteers, supporters, and wider community.

After more than a decade at Rawhiti Road, we will be concluding our time at the Manly offices at the end of March 2026. We are profoundly grateful to the Rigg family for their extraordinary generosity and continued support over many years in making these premises available to us. Rawhiti Road has been far more than a building; it has been a place of safety, healing, and hope for hundreds of young people, guided by the vision and enduring legacy of our founding Chairperson, the late Nigel Rigg.

As we continue to grow and evolve, we are seeking new facilities that will best support our main home at Duke House in Wainui. While many of our programmes can operate from Duke House, our commitment to the Hibiscus Coast remains unwavering.

We are urgently seeking a local, safe, and welcoming space where we can continue to provide crisis support and counselling for vulnerable young people and their families, particularly for those who may find travel to Wainui difficult.

If you know of a suitable space, have a lead, or would like to explore possibilities with us, we would love to hear from you.

With gratitude and optimism for what lies ahead,
Tina and the YIT Team