Kara is the manager of the face-to-face counselling at Dunedin’s Youthline, and, until fairly recently, had never heard of Good Bitches Baking. She was at an agency meeting with another group when she heard them talk about GBB, thought it sounded great, so immediately contacted our Dunedin chapter. This was all less than a year ago and Kara says already Youthline Dunedin is so appreciative of the good work of the Good Bitches.
“Honestly, it’s been awesome. GBB ties in so well to what we do.”
Youthline is a non-governmental organisation that provides face-to-face counselling for students intermediate to university age, through to people in their 30s and 40s. The counselling service is driven by mental health needs rather than age. The GBB baking is used as part of the face-to-face counselling process. The baking is available as people come in for counselling during the setting-up process and is also offered at the end of a session.
Kara says that often, because of the intense work that happens in a session, the clients look forward to having something to eat at
the end of the session or to take away with them. For some university students, it's a very welcome addition to their day’s food intake! She adds that this baking offer at the end often shifts the mood and rounds out the session.
The Youthline team adopts a Tiriti framework for their work, including cultural supervision in the office once a month. Kara is very appreciative of GBB; tapping into kai with GBB baking is a great way to support the holistic wellbeing of their clients as it supports both spiritual and physical components of wellbeing.
The Youthline team has also hosted the Dunedin GBB team at an information and nibbles get-together. Kara described it as a great evening– GBB got to hear about Youthline’s work, and the Youthline team about GBB. Kara says that get-together helped “tie us together - if GBB people come across anyone who might need support, they now know about the Youthline Services.”