Karl Bailey

Karl has been connected with Tāmaki since he and his family moved to Point England, and later Panmure, when he was growing up. He describes his connection with Tāmaki as an “intimate and closely connected relationship”. Karl’s family moved quite a bit when he was growing up, but there has been something about Tāmaki that has always stuck for Karl, something that has helped him feel anchored. As a young person Karl adopted the identity of being an Eastsider, and although in some ways this is an identity that he is beginning to outgrow, he feels that he will never fully leave it and will always be proud and love the place where he comes from. He says that the Eastsider identity is something that you take with you wherever you go and that this identity has helped shape his career and work.

Karl now works for ADHB on the Tāmaki Wellbeing Project. He says that this project is about everyone being responsible for wellbeing. Karl believes that when communities have self-determination, agency and are empowered this can lead to healthy behaviours and healthy lifestyles. In this way the project has similarities to the work of the HEART Movement. There is also a connection with HEART in terms of the work the Tāmaki Wellbeing Project does in looking at the drivers to wellbeing, which include parenting, relationships and community safety.

Karl has been involved with HEART from the beginning, and remembers connecting into early meetings and conversations around the theory of change. He was involved in setting up the Koru Group when it first started at Faith Family Connect, the Pockets of Hope Community Dinners and White Ribbon Events. Karl has attended many of the HEART training sessions and says that as a dad, a husband and a son, he has been trying to integrate some of these things back into his family, and that he believes that doing this is the number one way to be a contributor to the HEART Movement.

To Karl, HEART means wellbeing. It means treasuring each other as tāonga. He says, “HEART is a reminder and a pulse and a beacon to keep nurturing our social connections and through that nurturing we will have a family and community of wellness”.

Karl’s vision for HEART is that we should keep going! He says, “there’s still much more ground for us to claim and recover and connect into. Still many more households that need to hear the message of HEART and feel the energy and the love of the people that are part of HEART and connect in with it”. He also believes that it is important to let go. He says this is about being able to find a place where we can let go and the vibration of this message can generate itself. The question he poses is “how do we get HEART to catch on fire and spread?” Karl believes we must “keep going, see it to the end. Keep following it and keep letting go at the same time”.