Getting to know Family Works Northern

Family Works Northern (formerly known as James family^TM) is the child and family services division of Presbyterian Support Northern.

Based in 11 offices and numerous schools in the Upper North Island, Family Works Northern staff work alongside children and their families, supporting them to make positive and lasting differences in their lives.

Family Works Northern offers:

• Development Programmes for children/tamariki and young people/rangatahi

• Counselling and Social Work Support for children/tamariki and their families/whanau facing complex challenges

• Parenting Programmes

• Group Learning Programmes

• Localised Community Development Initiatives

We have service centres in Whangarei, Auckland, East Auckland, Waitakere, North Shore, Manukau, Waikato, Rotorua, Western Bay of Plenty, Eastern Bay of Plenty and Taupo.

Under the Government-funded Social Workers in Schools programme we have 27 social workers operating in 54 schools in our region. Family Works Northern also have five child advocates and a family violence prevention advocate working to help keep our communities safe.

Our areas of focus include:

• Parenting strategies
• Domestic violence and other forms of abuse
• Family relationship issues
• Communication skills
• Confidence and self-esteem
• Problematic behaviour(s)
• Grief and loss
• Support dealing with Government or other organisations.

Children and families can be referred to us for support from Government and/or community agencies, schools or health professionals - or they can self-refer. 

When we first start working with families we aim to assist them to set goals and to develop a plan for working towards those goals, supported by appropriately tailored support from us.

Our approach is based on assisting children and families to identify and build on their strengths and to focus on the solutions rather than the problems.  Further, we look at the wider context in which our clients live in order to best support them to overcome the challenges they face.

Please note: Some of our work is Government-funded or supported by grants/donations and can therefore be provided free of charge.  In other cases families may be asked to pay a specified fee or to make a contribution to help cover the costs of the service(s) and/or programme(s) provided for them.