SNN_Dec 2021 Issue_web low res

NEW ZEALAND SPINAL TRUST 4
Supporting
Positive Futures
Hans Wouters
CEO’s Column
Hans says 2022 is a golden opportunity to continue building, blooming and flourishing.
Flowers bloom in the desert.
This is one of the miracles of life on earth. In the midst of
such barrenness, extreme temperatures and hardship
something beautiful can still find a way and flourish. As
the year draws to a close and I reflect on our efforts and
what we have achieved, the picture I have in my mind is of
a flower blooming in the desert.
We have had a remarkable year. Leaving our ‘winter of
Covid-discontent’, NZST has entered a spring period
where there is growth everywhere. There are new shoots
and blooms appearing right across our work. This year
our team has grown stronger as we have faced our own
challenges, both personal and professional, as individuals
and as an organisation. It has been really tough at times
and yet we live what we teach. We do have a positive
future - these difficulties too will pass. Our two appeals
this year broke records as we continue to build a strong
supporter base from which to help people. Despite
incredible economic changes in our society, we have
maintained strong relationships with each one of our
funding partners and in some cases even grown their
support. As you will read, we have partnered with ACC to
see them invest in Peer Support across the entire country
to a profound and unprecedented level. The importance
of this mahi was recognised in a 10 minute interview on
TV1’s ‘Breakfast’ show where John Campbell expertly
—Hans Wouters
The best way to build culture
and relationship is to solve a
problem together.
shared with the nation how with peer support one can
find their way back to a positive future.
It is said the best way to build culture and relationship is to
solve a problem together. Our team and the team at Spinal
Support NZ (SSNZ) have been working on the problem of
delivering consistent, sustainable, nationwide peer
support for almost 10 years now and we are on the cusp of
solving it - together. This challenge has drawn SSNZ and
NZST closer together at a leadership level and a staffing
level. What we have achieved so far is setting us up for an
amazing future together that will no doubt see us join
forces in other ways to deliver much needed support and
resources to the many New Zealanders who live with the
effects of spinal cord impairment right across the whenua.
2021 also saw us successfully launch our new website and
establish our new Resource Centre facility at Burwood