Care without conditions - a conversation with Jill Hawkey, Christchurch Methodist Mission Executive Director

Government funding usually comes with conditions. There are some researchers who argue that government funding can have better outcomes, and be used more efficiently without strings attached [1]. Whatever your views on this, there are situations when government and the community accept that government isn’t best placed to provide care. There’s a magical place between government and the community social services sector where unconditional care makes the space for awesome things to happen – like at Christchurch Methodist Mission.

Unconditional care is about providing support and acceptance to people and whānau without judgment. Often people carry their own shame when they come to us, says Christchurch Methodist Mission Executive Director, Jill Hawkey. “But when they come here it’s like saying, ‘you don't need to carry that anymore because we're going to see you as you are.’” She says parents choose to come to the Aratupu preschool because they feel that they're not judged, that they'll be welcomed and supported.

1] see The Conversation, Why social assistance shouldn’t come with strings attached

Care without conditions means accepting and supporting people no matter what they say or do. It comes with no judgements or blame, and adverse events are seen as opportunities.

“So when people say to the homeless that you can’t go into emergency housing because you've contributed to your own homelessness, I just want to ask them, ‘who’s contributed to the trauma that has put them there?’” says Jill. “Put this in the context of colonisation, put it in the context of kids who have gone through a care system where in fact they suffered significant abuse. Often it was the State that contributed to the trauma and so to their homelessness.”

“We're really clear as an organisation that we side with those who are most vulnerable or most at risk,” says Jill. “That's just who we are.”

Take aged care as an example. Jill says it’s incredibly hard to make aged care stack up financially which is why a lot of charities have stopped providing it. “But our Board has been amazing. Other organisations charge very large premium room charges to make the books balance, while we've tried to keep our premium room charges at a minimum. If people can't afford them, then they don't pay anything at all – the quality of room, the quality of care, everything is the same irrespective of how much money you've got.”

That kind of care without conditions comes from a values system based on equity rather than equality, says Jill. “It's recognising that not everybody starts from the same place. We also need to recognise the history of colonisation in this country and the impact that it's had on whānau and hapū.”

With that in mind, the Mission is outspoken when they see things that are not right. “But that comes from an evidence based background,” says Jill. “It's not just speaking because we think this is the right thing to do. It's speaking out of knowledge and it's speaking out of experience.”

Luckily Jill has “a great management team and really supportive Board who are unflappable! They’ve said, ‘be radical, be brave,’ which is an amazing mandate to be given from a Board.”

That courage is evident in the contracts that the Christchurch Methodist Mission has unconditionally taken on, some which don’t stack up financially, or some that come with great risk. “I remember when we first took on Housing First [a housing initiative for those who are long-term homeless] and I said to the board, ‘look, this is a contract that's not for the faint hearted. We're going to be working with people who have experienced significant trauma in their lives, and who won't be the easiest tenants. There will be issues.’ And the Board said, ‘well, if we're not going to do it, who's going to do it? Just get on with it."

The Board’s courage and generosity is also evident in the people that the Mission wraps itself around. Jill says they recently housed a woman who had convictions for arson. “We just could not find another community housing provider in town who was willing to house her. When the Housing First manager put it to the Board and we looked at our risks and how we’d manage all of those risks the Board said ‘let’s house her – she needs a house and she’s not safe where she is.’ It’s those kind of things that I'm most proud of when they say we're not certain what it's going to be like, but we're going to do it anyway because it's the right thing to do.”

Jill shares the story of someone who was long term homeless and was housed and supported through Housing First. They then found out they had a terminal illness and didn't have long to live. Staff helped them reconnect with their (now adult) children, who they hadn't seen since going to prison over twenty years ago. When palliative care was needed, the WesleyCare manager welcomed them into the hospital for the final few months of their life, despite the fact that they were still using drugs, and were younger than the other residents, “And the staff were absolutely superb,” says Jill.

“That was actually in the middle of the COVID lockdown and on the day that they passed away they had their key worker from Housing First beside them with the chaplain at WesleyCare and their whānau on the phone. They didn't die on the streets. They died having sustained a home, having reconnected with their whānau – and died peacefully in a warm and comfortable bed.”

Jill says those are the stories that bring you joy, where you see all the resources that you offer coming together in an unconditional belief in the dignity and potential of everyone.