Family help 'team effort' | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

Tim Metcalfe reckons that being a team leader means you receive all the kudos for a job well done.

And he is quick to point out that his recognition in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours is founded on a team effort.

He said receiving the Queen's Service Medal had left him "humbled" and did not do justice to the team of people he worked with.

"If I take just our Jigsaw agency here in Wanganui, it's a fabulous team to be a part of. I may be the leader and the one getting the kudos, but there's some fantastic work our frontline staff do alongside families."

The 57-year-old received the award for services to the community he has lived in since 1993, when he took on the position as co-ordinator of the Wanganui Living Without Violence Trust.

The former teacher studied sociology in Chicago before coming to Wanganui and, in the intervening 18 years, has been at the forefront of bettering the lot of many families.

He is executive officer of Jigsaw Whanganui, a community agency working with children and families, and is also chairman of the Jigsaw Family Services Board. He has 35 years' experience in community education, counselling and social work.

In 2004 Mr Metcalfe was appointed manager of Family Support Services Wanganui (now Jigsaw Whanganui), which works to support families to build positive relationships and for the past six years has chaired the national board of Jigsaw Family Services Board. In that time the Jigsaw network has grown from 12 community agencies to a national network of 42 partners.

Mr Metcalfe said his nomination came "as a bit of a shock" and he said he was humbled by the recognition.

He said he was proud of the services built up since he arrived in Wanganui and said the networks created had provided a much greater safety net for families and people in need.

When he started work in Wanganui there were very few resources, but the network had grown and its ability to make a difference was obvious.

"But there's huge amount of work to do still," he said.

Mr Metcalfe said what was still disturbing was that violence was still condoned as "normal behaviour", and changing that behaviour remained vital work.

"We've made huge progress. To have 800 men walking up the Avenue protesting against family violence, as we have this year and last, would have been unthinkable in the early 1990s when I arrived here," he said.

Mr Metcalfe said his greatest satisfaction was working with families and bringing about a change in behaviour, as well as seeing the next generation from those families breaking the cycle of violence.

He said it was important for neighbourhoods and communities to be continually working to bring this change.

He said Wanganui was fortunate in the network of agencies that had been created, and it was admired around the country for what had been achieved.

"Working with families, you become very intimate with them and you see, from horrendous situations, changes happening as they battle against overwhelming odds.

"That's why this medal I'm receiving really belongs to all those people working for our agencies."

And he thanked his partner, Casandra, for the help and support she had given him in his work.

"Her support for me over the years has been outstanding right through," Mr Metcalfe said.