HEART Project Fund Hui - September 2026

Weaving the people who hold our rangatahi: Weave Tings receives HEART Project Fund tautoko

At our September hui at Reserve Tāmaki, the Kaitiaki heard from Change Agent Libby Blore about Weave Tings, and we're stoked to share that it has received $500 koha from the HEART Project Fund toward its first hui.

Weave Tings is a strand of Big Tings, Libby's movement for reweaving society through culture, community and connection. It draws on Lalaga o le Vā, the weaving of the sacred relational space, and applies it to the space between schools, clinics and community organisations that all carry the same rangatahi.

Here's the problem it tackles. School guidance counsellors and GPs are holding complex mahi with very little room to breathe. They rarely have time to know every organisation working in their community, so they refer the way they always have, most often to CAMHS. Referrals get declined, or accepted and then sat on for months, while someone local could have walked alongside that rangatahi within a week.

Libby's answer is simple and very HEART: get everyone in the same room, with kai, with time, and with no agency hats on. Each hui opens with karakia and kai, then everyone shares who they are and who they serve. A facilitated kōrero follows on what the community is really struggling with, and the group names what's missing so they can go after it together. It finishes with a clear way to stay connected before the next one.

In the room will be school counsellors, deputy principals and pastoral staff, social workers placed in schools, GPs, nurses, community organisations, healers and cultural practitioners, and youth workers and mentors. As Libby puts it, "Not a conference. A weaving."

Libby is a registered mental health nurse, Health Improvement Practitioner and coach, with six years across primary, secondary and tertiary mental health and education settings in Aotearoa. Big Tings has been operating for three years.

The plan is to start in Tāmaki with Tāmaki College and Glendowie College, alongside local primary schools already connected through social work placements. Two schools done properly, then grow. The first hui is this October, then regular hui every second month from early 2027, with the group deciding the rhythm.

The $500 goes to kai for the room and printed materials, so the people doing this mahi are fed and hosted properly and nobody pays to attend. Beyond the pūtea, HEART's connections in the community are worth just as much, so we'll be helping with introductions to local providers and getting the invitation out.

The Kaitiaki asked Libby to find her niche and give us details and specifics, and her one pager did exactly that. We can't wait to see who gathers.

Are you a school, clinic, or organisation working with rangatahi in Tāmaki? Get in touch at kiaora@heartmovement.org.nz and we'll connect you with Libby.

Ngā mihi nui, Libby, for bringing this kaupapa to HEART!

The HEART Kaitiaki, unfortunately Libby had to leave the hui early!