Western News: November 12, 2020

WESTERN NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday November 12 2020 5
Ollie helps design health hub
FORMER Christchurch Boys’
High School student Ollie
Latimer has battled mental
illness and helped design
plans for a youth health hub in
Christchurch.
Latimer’s mum succumbed
to breast cancer when he was
just four-years-old and his dad
took his own life in 2017.
Youth Hub Trust chairwoman
Dame Sue Bagshaw
helped him through this.
Now, the health hub proposed
for Salisbury St, which
will help others like Latimer
if approved, has received resource
consent.
Said Latimer, now 26: “I was
really struggling with depression
when I first reached out
for help.
“Sue was really there for me
from the start, helping me deal
with troubling issues both at
school and home. I had lost
my mum to breast cancer
when I was just four. The welcoming,
non-judgmental atmosphere
at 298 Youth Health
Centre really helped me.”
Once stronger, Latimer left
Christchurch to spend the
next five years in Auckland,
studying for a degree in spatial
design.
But in 2017, he returned to
APPROVED: Resource consent has been granted for a
youth health and well-being hub on Salisbury St. ​
Inset: Ollie Latimer.
Christchurch after his dad’s
death.
“I was really struggling to
cope with renewed grief and
turned once again to Sue for
counselling.
“That was super important
for me and I was able to pick
up again where we left off from
high school. Sue is incredible.
I spent many hours with her
through it all. What she does
to support youth is amazing.
She is there for so many young
people, she’s just so selfless
and caring,” said Latimer.
Bagshaw knew Latimer
needed some direction in his
life and sensed an opportunity
to involve him and his skills
with her ambitious one-stopshop
youth hub plans, then in
their infancy.
She asked him to a meeting
where he was introduced to
the Field Studio team, who
were soon engaged to design
the hub. Bagshaw and Field
Studio’s director thought Latimer’s
skills would be a good
fit for the project and Latimer
was invited in to the firm’s office
to join the project team.
Once built, the Youth Hub
– Te Hurihanga Ō Rangatahi
– will be a communal place
of growth, support and wellbeing
for 10 to 25-year-olds.
It will provide support services
including access to catchup
education, healthcare,
mental health counselling,
vocational training, recreation
and employment.
The centre will provide
space for about 12 different
youth organisations including
298 Youth Health Centre,
YouthLine, Qtopia and the
Christchurch City Mission.
Resource consent approval
comes just weeks after another
positive win for the ambitious
project – a $10 million
dollar kick-start from the
Government’s $3 billion dollar
Covid-19 Response and
Recovery Fund, set aside for
shovel-ready projects.
“That generous investment
is around half of what we
ultimately need to make the
youth hub a reality,” said
Bagshaw.
Neighbours have been
consulted, with the design
adjusted to address concerns.
Although resource consent
has been granted, affected
parties have until the end of
November to lodge an appeal.
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