Dave, Odyssey's Lived Experience Lead, talks about growing up and searching for a male role-model, having trouble at school, and being labelled and defined by the system. Dave talks about a lifestyle of drug use and criminal activity, which led to incarceration. Dave found peace, humility, purpose, and a calling to peer support, after a chance encounter with an old friend.

Join our International Peer Collaborative. We meet every 3 months to talk about what’s happening around the world in Peer Support and Lived Experience. It’s a place you can share your challenges and solutions with others, connect, and find resources.

We have recently launched a new service called Taupae Wheako, which is all about supporting the peer support and lived experience workforce.

Mackenzie, who ran the Amsterdam marathon on October 16 has generously raised £4,563 - around $8,800 NZD - for Odyssey's family centre.

Diwali draws near and is celebrated on Monday 24 October this year. We have asked Operations Manager, Supriya Maharaj, Training Manager, Anushka Ananth, and Intern Psychologist Sunaina Roy to share their thoughts about the festival. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs and symbolises light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

Youth INtact’s cultural support worker Melody Nepe is supporting young women at Huntly College, Waikato, to develop personal skills and resources based in Mana Wāhine practice. Find out more about the College’s Te Rangimarie girls’ reference group and Melody’s work at Youth INtact….

Te Ara Oranga (The Path to Wellbeing) is a methamphetamine harm reduction partnership in Te Tai Tokerau. Odyssey has been involved in the programme since it was established in October 2017, supporting over 500 people to access services to reduce methamphetamine harms.

Josh accessed Odyssey’s services within the Te Ara Oranga programme and shares his story here

It’s that time of year, a time to reflect and a time to give thanks. This year certainly wasn’t quite as expected, and getting to the end of it feels a bit like getting to the end of a very long race, but we made it!

Odyssey’s 2020 AGM will be held on Monday 7 December at 5.30pm.

Haven, a peer-led, after hours drop-in support space on Karangahape Road recently welcomed its 10,000th visitor.

Service updates following the Government’s announcement that Auckland moves to Level 3 and the rest of the country moves to Level 2 from midday on 12 August 2020

In late 2018, Odyssey began a series of workshops with staff and whai ora to explore who we are and why we are here. Led by creative agency Curative, we called the workshops our ‘Why Workshops’. Over the course of 12 months, we explored our story with over 80 staff and whai ora. From this process, we re-imagined our vision and purpose, and took the opportunity to update our visual identity, including our website. We hope you like it too!

Odyssey is using the REC-CAP assessment and planning tool to support tāngata whai ora to build on their strengths. Here, we explain the three components of recovery capital and the work we are doing to embed the REC-CAP tool in our adult services.