Reconnecting
Melle Young reflects on her long experience of the health system and reconnecting with God.
My name is Melle Young. I am 26 years old. I’ve never told my story, and it’s hard to know where to begin. Although it’s important for me to focus upon the good things that have happened in the health system for me, my experience has been good and bad.
I grew up in Plimmerton. My stepfather married my mum when I was six, and they remain together.
My experience of the health system began when I was a child. I remember going to a paediatrician regularly from when I was about 5 years old until I was about 10 or 11. At that stage I didn’t really know what that was all about. Things at home weren’t that great, and my mental and behavioural development was a bit screwed.
The people I saw made me feel like there was something wrong with me, like I had ‘special needs’. But I just wanted to be treated as normal – I am normal, I just have issues that I’m trying to sort out. Don’t we all?
I started going to counselling quite young too – in some ways this was helpful, and in other ways it wasn’t. As a teenager, there was one counsellor I didn’t like to see because I felt very uncomfortable – I felt that there was something behind it, and inappropriate things happened. I found the misuse of trust very hard. If there had been more physical distance, I would have felt more comfortable.
A few years back when I was living in Nelson I had quite a bad gambling problem, and to be honest I’m still not out of it yet. Back then I used to go to a support group, and I went to see someone from the Salvation Army for counselling. They really encouraged me to get back in touch with God, which has been an awesome thing. That was the beginning of an amazing relationship, both with God, and with this person who moved from being purely ‘professional’ and became a friend. Friendship and trust are really important in health, and health is about a journey you take together.
When I came back to Wellington I went off the rails. I was at the Soup Kitchen and someone was talking to me about Stillwaters, and this person wouldn’t shut up. So to shut them up I went along, and the rest is history. Through Stillwaters I’ve reconnected back to God, and to my life. The hill to climb is a big one – not just with God stuff but with my health and life. But I’ve realised that faith and health seem really connected to me.
I get access to fantastic health care these days from Te Aro Medical Centre. I’ve got a great doctor. I don’t connect if I don’t trust the health care professional, but I connect with her – I feel that she cares. She’s great – she is patient and she listens and I trust her judgement (and
I don’t trust easily). Whatever my doctor tells me to do or take, I do – and I don’t mind; she’s a good doctor who cares about me, and makes me feel like a person who is valued. I wouldn’t go to anyone else. A lot of people don’t get that experience, so to have it is a real blessing.
I think that some Maori think that it’s harder to access quality health care that makes sense to them in a system that’s mostly about pakeha and run by pakeha, but that hasn’t been my experience. I realise that makes my story a bit different.
Melle Young is Maori, lives in Wellington and is part of the Stillwaters Community – a long running intentional Christian Community based on Cuba Street in the heart of the city.
Stillwaters is a community based ministry group working alongside people on the margins of our society. There are a number of households in the city which aim to connect and build relationships with local people. These homes are open places of hospitality and friendship.
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