Drug-addicted, jobless and homeless, Mark was a young man without much to look forward to.
Now he is off drugs, employed, with accommodation and the chance of a future he once could hardly have imagined.
On Saturday 22-year-old Mark (not his real name) graduated from the Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) course at Burnham Army Camp – a mentally and physically challenging six-week process designed to get young people on their feet.
Among his supporters at the graduation was Constable Andree Green, of the Nelson Bays family harm team, with a congratulations card signed by colleagues who shared her delight at his achievement.
Andree met Mark in the cells at Nelson soon after joining the family harm team. She found him polite, likeable, cooperative – and hungry for a better life.
“I got him at a good time,” she says. “He was very ready to make changes.
“I introduced myself and said ‘What can I do to help you?’ He told me he thought the only way he could get help was to go to jail, which was very sad to hear.
“We talked about rehab – he wanted to go into rehab but that could take some time. We talked about doing LSV.”
Before coming to Tasman, Andree worked in family harm in Counties Manukau and had seen LSV transform young lives - but the next Burnham course was just two weeks away. “It was a busy time,” she says.
She had to arrange a bail address out of Nelson to keep Mark out of jail, then get him on the course. When he was accepted, she had to get the address varied and negotiate with Corrections about him not finishing his community work order.
Mark was close to his grandparents, so Andree engaged with his grandmother. Together they went shopping to buy him new clothes.
Finally, Andree put him on a plane for Christchurch. She spoke to him just once during the course and found him doubting his ability to see it through. But then he sent her a video, inviting her to the graduation.
“This is probably the first thing he’s achieved – he just didn’t think he was going to be able to graduate,” she says.
Mark is now starting a new life away from Nelson - hopefully far enough away from old influences but not too far for family visits.
“He was clear he didn’t want to come back to Nelson,” says Andree. “The drug scene here is quite huge and he would have walked straight back in to it.”
Andree gives Mark the credit for his achievement. “He was ready. I had the easy part, just supporting him.”
She would like her Nelson colleagues to make greater use of LSV for young people they encounter.
“LSV gives them structure, food and accommodation for six weeks. They get paid, so they can save. They learn teamwork, skill-building, they get CVs done. There’s a whole lot of stuff they’re offered and the end result, hopefully, is employment.”
Tasman District Commander Superintendent Mike Johnson says Mark’s story is a great example of a prevention mindset in action.
“It really epitomises what we are intending and where we are heading - the mindset of ‘see something, do something’,” he says. “Let’s try some different approaches.
“It’s about getting to the drivers of things – how we actually change things for the betterment of our community.”