Social worker's unique position

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 7, 15 July 1986, Page 6

Social worker's unique position

Peter Bright, the social worker with Army Training Group at Waiouru Military Camp, is unique. He is the only social worker employed by the Army in all of Australasia. Waiouru needs a social worker because of its isolation and distance from support services. Five years ago the ATG commander at the

time decided that a social worker should be employed and Peter Bright is the second in the job. He and his family arrived at Waiouru in 1983 for a two-year term. When it was time for them to leave however, they decided to stay another two years. Mr Bright's main work is marriage guidance and dealing with family, budgeting, alcohol and drug problems. He also offers help with legal matters and acts as a citizens' advice bureau. He qualified as a marriage guidance counsellor while living in Waiouru. This entailed three years training, for which he had to travel to Wellington at weekends. Not all couples get back together after they receive counselling, he said, but he feels he has done his job if they separate with dignity and with understanding of each other. Since his arrival in Waiouru, Mr Bright has seen more support services and caring groups set up. The Waiouru Health Centre was established in 1982 which brought the social worker, public health nurse and Plunket nurse all under the same roof. Support groups also meet at the centre. Before taking up his Waiouru position he was a social worker in Tokoroa and Dannevirke. He finds the position at ATG much different to that in a civilian town. "It's a different type of work, a change from children in trouble and court work," he said.

Belore becoming a social worker, Mr Bright had many and varied occupations. He worked for a security firm and as a security and fire officer for New Zealand Forest Products at Kinleith. In Australia he did security and construction work and took photographs for magazines, among other jobs. In his home country of England, Mr Bright was an Air Force photographer in England and Germany in the early 1950s. He later became chief photographer for the Watford Observer, a newspaper in north London. He was also assistant news editor and photographer for a Fleet Street news agency. Despite his past exciting lifestyle, Mr Bright does not find the isolation and climate of Waiouru unattractive. In fact he believes a place is what you make it. "A lot of people come to

Waiouru with pre-conceived ideas about the place. They decide they don't like it before they come," he said. Mr Bright is involved in lots of other activities apart from his work. He is the secretary of the community advisory committee, an ambulance officer, a first aid instructor, chairman of the child-care centre, and has organised two telethons in Waiouru. If that is not enough he is also a keen gardener and won a place in the Waiouru Garden competition this year! His wife, Mae is a lay reader for the Anglican church and is involved in the child-care centre. They have a 1 6-year-old daughter, Kendall, who attends Ruapehu College. Their eldest daughter, Stacey, 1 9, has recently moved from Waiouru to Wellington. They also have five grown sons.