Closure of centre leaves major gap for young people in Nelson

The co-founder of a recently closed Nelson youth centre says its loss leaves a major gap for young people and the schools and whānau who relied on it, with many now left without a safe place to go.

Whanake Youth, the Stoke-based youth health and wellbeing service, officially ceased trading on April 17 after mounting financial pressures made it unsustainable to continue.

Co-founder and manager Lee-ann O’Brien said the impact was immediate.

“The hardest thing now is what happens for our young people,” she said.

For many rangatahi, Whanake was more than a service – it was a place to belong.

“They know they can come here, they can access food, they can play pool and connect with caring adults,” O’Brien said. “For them, the loss is, ‘well now where do I go?’”

Over its nine years, Whanake worked with thousands of young people, including dozens regularly attending its programmes.

The service operated under the Youth Health and Wellbeing Trust and had worked with rangatahi aged 12 to 24 across Nelson and Tasman since 2017.

Its work included school-based health services, a drop-in space, community programmes and employment pathways through its SYP Cafe, which had also closed.

Whanake provided holistic support across mental health, physical health and social wellbeing, something O’Brien said was difficult to sustain under current funding models.

“A lot of services are funded in silos, but that’s not how young people experience their lives,” she said.

O’Brien said truancy was a growing concern. Some youth did not fit in the mainstream education system, but schools were not able to meet all those needs.

The decision followed a board meeting last week, after rising costs and a tightening funding environment made the service unsustainable.

The organisation operated from a space behind Stoke Memorial Hall, leased from Nelson City Council.

O’Brien said the closure would likely increase isolation and anxiety, particularly for young people already struggling.

“There isn’t a place in Nelson where young people can just come to that’s theirs,” she said.

Nine staff have lost their jobs.

“It felt like we were at a funeral,” O’Brien said. “The loss we feel isn’t just for ourselves, but for our young people.”

She said the closure reflected wider pressures across the sector, with many youth-focused charities struggling to remain viable.

“It’s really important that young people have pro-social spaces to go to,” she said. “If those aren’t there, we have to ask what fills that space instead.”

There was hope the community could come together to respond.

“We’ve had people reaching out asking how they can help,” she said. “We want to have those conversations about what comes next.”

SYP Café head barista Maz Collings, who trained youth through the programme for four years, said the loss would be deeply felt.

“When I heard the news, I was devastated making those phone calls to the young people,” she said.

The programme offered barista training and work experience for CVs, helping young people build confidence, while overcoming challenges such as anxiety.

“There’s not really anything quite like what we had going,” Collings said.

She described watching one young person grow from standing hesitantly in the doorway to gaining confidence and eventually securing a job.

“It was about building that trust so they knew someone had their back,” she said.

By Nina Hindmarsh, Nelson Mail