Confidence. Identity. Belonging. These aren't things you can teach in a classroom — and for young wāhine navigating the harder parts of adolescence, Wilderness Canoe Trust found another way.

The Kōhine Adventure Health Programme doesn't start with a desk. It starts with a canoe, a climb, a campfire, and a group of young women given a full year of challenge, connection, and space to discover who they are.

THE PROGRAMME

Through the Top of the South Community Foundation funding and the generous support of the GSG Wilson Fund, the programme received funding to continue delivering this mahi — reaching kōhine in Motueka who need it most.

Across four school terms, participants move through a carefully designed calendar of experiences: canoeing, climbing, raft building, abseiling, camp craft, and mindfulness sessions. Each activity is chosen not just for its physical challenge, but for what it asks of the young women who take part — to try something new, to trust the group, to find out what they're capable of.

Te ao Māori is woven throughout. Facilitated kōrero about identity, values, and belonging create space for participants to explore who they are and where they come from. It's not incidental — it's central to the kaupapa.

The programme is intentionally non-judgemental. Kōhine are supported to be themselves, to take their time, and to show up at whatever level they can. That safety is the foundation everything else is built on.

WHAT CHANGED

The outcomes confirmed in the programme's impact report are both measurable and deeply personal.

Participants developed stronger self-belief and motivation, with increased engagement in physical activity and sport. They built a clearer sense of personal and cultural identity. And they formed strong, lasting friendships — the kind that carry young people through the harder parts of adolescence.

Whānau connections were strengthened through facilitated outdoor experiences shared beyond the programme itself. School engagement increased. And participants developed a deeper, more holistic understanding of what it means to stay well — the importance of connection, activity, culture, and supportive relationships.

As one kōhine put it: "It was worth sticking it out coz now I've got mean friends and I feel way better, like inside and outside."

Another shared: "I've learned through it that I can't control everything and that's ok, to just, like, let go — also I'm going to stop assuming that something will suck before I've even tried it."

And from the mother of one participant: "It is all she talks about when we ask about school. If she didn't have it I'm not confident she would even be at school. We've noticed a difference at home — she's more relaxed and like her old self."

WHY IT MATTERS

Young women face particular pressures during adolescence — around identity, belonging, body image, and mental health. The Kōhine Adventure Health Programme meets those pressures not with a worksheet, but with a river, a rope, a canoe, and a group of people who have their back.

That kind of intervention doesn't happen without sustained support. The grant from the Top of the South Community Foundation helped ensure this programme could keep running — that another group of kōhine could have the year that changes things.

Donor generosity makes that possible. And the young women who come through this programme carry it forward.

To find out more about the Kōhine Adventure Health Programme and Wilderness Canoe Journeys, visit canoejourneys.co.nz

Together, we're building a stronger, more connected community across Te Tauihu.