Finding an anchor.

Everybody needs an anchor. Something that grounds them in the community, that gives their life purpose and direction. For the men in the Navigate Initiative, finding that anchor can mean the difference between rebuilding their lives or sliding back into old patterns.

This is why Reintegration Navigator Milly is deliberate about exposing the men to experiences they might never have considered on their own.

"The guys never know what that anchor might be," Milly explains. "So the more things we expose them to, the more they can find what grounds them in the community and gives their life purpose. It could be art, poetry, carving, anything. We just need to give them the chance to say yes to things they've never done before."

As part of this approach, Milly and Matiu recently took a group of Tū Ora to The Road Less Travelled art exhibition at Stepping Stone Trust. Some of the men had recently been released, others had been in the community for several years. That mix mattered. The men who had been recently released got to see peers they'd known years earlier, now ordinary people doing ordinary things. It was a quiet reminder that the life they'd known before release wasn't the only option available to them.

The exhibition itself was powerful. One piece in particular featured words that had been said to the artist throughout their life, and it resonated with some of the men. Others realised art wasn't their thing. Either way, they were out in the community, trying something new together. One man discovered he actually enjoys galleries and museums. That's potentially his anchor. His weekends now have structure and meaning, and he's already planning to visit other galleries.

It's important to take a step back and see what's actually happening here. On a Saturday night, ten men who, in their past, could easily have been causing trouble in their communities were instead making an intentional effort to broaden their horizons. That's not a small thing. 

Some of the men are already asking for more outings and planning their next visits to art galleries. Our hope is that these activities allow the men to form connections and build pro-social communities that anchor them in their new way of life.