#50 - Kelsi Cox - The possibility of healing - What happens when people finally have the support to flourish."

In this episode, we meet Kelsi Cox, Supportive Housing Manager at HomeGround — the Auckland City Mission's $100 million integrated housing and health facility in central Auckland. Kelsi came to Aotearoa from British Columbia on a Rotary scholarship in 2013 and never left. Her background spans international development, public health, the YWCA, the Ministry for Women, the Department of Corrections, and women's refuge — a consistent thread running through all of it: a commitment to supporting wāhine and their whānau to thrive. In this episode, Kelsi talks about what happens after someone is housed — why that is often when the real challenge begins, and why that is not a failure of the model but the point of it. She talks about the rooftop garden on level nine that tenants built themselves, the whānau committee that meets every week, the gratitude club that runs on Mondays and Fridays, and why none of it was imposed. She talks about the funding system that sees intertwined needs as separate categories, and why her ask is simple: start with the person, not the funding box. We'd like to thank Kelsi for taking the time to speak with us for this episode.And don't forget to subscribe to the CHA Hub Podcast — wherever you get your podcasts from.The CHA Hub Podcast is sponsored by our Founding Partner, Westpac New Zealand.