Kia ora,

In the beginning of March we started a 30 day ‘Self Care Challenge’ on our Canterbury Facebook Group, which was a wonderful reminder to look inwards and remember that self care starts with the small things that we do daily, like; drinking your morning coffee when all our family members are still in bed or going for a walk with your dog in a different park that you have not been to before. This challenge also served as a good reminder during Foster Care Awareness Week – our annual celebration of the awesome job you do every day as a caregiver.

This year we hosted four Foster Care Awareness Week events in the Canterbury region. I was so happy to see so many familiar and new faces learning and connecting together.

Here are some photos from our celebrations:

We continued our celebrations with the Excellence in Foster Care Awards – where some caregivers were awarded for their outstanding work. Congratulations to you all!

After an eventful March, I wish you a wonderful time with your family during the Easter holidays. Remember to take some time for your daily self-care practice.

Frohe Ostern (Happy Easter)

Caroline

A word from Jared

I had the privilege of attending the Excellence in Foster Care Awards in March, where we recognised 13 recipients, including the remarkable caregiver from Canterbury, Angela Campion. The event, held at Government House in Wellington, offered a great chance to connect with fellow awardees and esteemed guests, including the new Minister of Children, Honorable Karen Chhour, and Her Excellency, The Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro, the Governor General. Congratulations again, Angela. Your contributions to Canterbury are the heartbeat of our community.

I also just wanted to do a massive shout-out to Greg who organised an outstanding Canterbury Mens’ Group in March with record numbers attending. It was great to be in a space hearing the journeys of our amazing male caregivers. Looking forward to the next gathering!

Training

Keep an eye out for what training is coming up in term two – our term two training calendar will be available soon through this link (due to be published during the holidays) so make sure you check back in for updates on what workshops will be available.

Events

We are already planning the next connection event later this year, keep an eye out for details to save the date.

Support

We have a closed Private Facebook group for our wonderful Canterbury Caregiver Members to keep updated and connect virtually, you can find it here.

We also have some great community connections face to face, please find below contact details for our Support Groups.