At 16, Claudia Fraser attended a Blue Light Youth Camp which has ended up having a profound impact on her future career path.
Blue Light is a charity organisation which delivers a range of programmes with the aim of helping the Police to achieve its youth and community objectives.
While on this camp, Claudia was paired with a Youth Work Mentor, “she really inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and showed me that I had more capability than I thought”.
PHOTO ABOVE: Claudia Fraser
In a full-circle moment, seven years later, Claudia ended up working for Blue Light as a Youth Work Mentor herself, where she gained her New Zealand Apprenticeship in Youth Work through Careerforce. Careerforce is a work-based health and wellbeing training provider that supports learners to gain NZQA qualifications while working.
All apprentices with Careerforce are assigned an Apprenticeship Advisor who provides support and guides them through their learning journey. Claudia was assigned Shane Bennett; “Shane was really supportive while I was doing my study, he’s phenomenal. He was always welcoming and helpful”.
“Right from the start,” says Shane, “I could see she was dedicated to positive health and wellbeing outcomes for our at-risk rangatahi. Her passion was infectious to all around her and her leadership potential was obvious from day one”.
Claudia also credits the support of Careerforce study hubs, as they provided the opportunity to work on her assessments while meeting and collaborating with fellow learners. “I gained a lot of knowledge and learned a lot through hearing other people’s experiences”. Blue Light also supported Claudia and her colleagues to complete their studies through fortnightly study sessions.
Since completing her qualification, Claudia has moved into a Section Commander role with the Youth Development Unit (North) of the New Zealand Defence Force. In this role, she facilitates the Limited Service Volunteer courses which are 6-week camps for young adults who are on the Job Seeker benefit. Claudia facilitates lessons and mentors the 18-24-year-olds, coordinating a mixture of activities to get them out of their comfort zone and helping them to gain life skills.
“I enjoy working alongside them from day one when they’re asking ‘why am I here?’ and then seeing them graduate six weeks later when they realise ‘wow I’ve got a lot of potential in my life’” says Claudia.
Claudia says that she finds her role very rewarding, “I just really enjoy listening to people’s stories and helping them with what they need and giving them a solution”
Claudia is now investigating further study options but says, “I would definitely recommend Careerforce work-based training programmes. They provide such a great foundation if you are starting a Youth Work job and you need a bit of knowledge behind you”.
Shane adds, “Claudia will be an asset to our Defence Force, I see such a great future for her and will follow her career with interest.”
You can find more information about the New Zealand Apprenticeship in Youth Work on our website here. Alternatively, you can contact Careerforce on 0800 277 486 or info@careerforce.org.nz
