Court helps end cycle of despair

The walls of Gary North’s Mt Eden apartment are bare but for his certificate of graduation from the New Beginnings Court.

North, who was homeless in Auckland for five years, graduated from the court this August.

He moved to Auckland from Wellington, with not a cent to his name, to look for work and get off the sickness benefit. This did not eventuate, and combined with a drinking problem, North ended up sleeping rough in parks across the city.

‘‘I was a bit of a drinker, and I would drink in town, in parks and things like that. Where there was a liquor ban sign. Getting caught over and over again,’’ he said.

‘‘The fines mounted up and all that, I knew I had a problem and I needed to sort it out.’’

There were several times when he found it hard to cope, even though he had help from the City Mission.

‘‘You get situations, at night, where it’s like, oh my god, I wish I had a place to go – four walls, you know. It got rough at times, it really did,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s very lonely on the street, when you’re by yourself, it’s a lonely time, I suppose.’’

On one occasion, North said he woke up in a jail cell to see, not another lawyer, but Jo Ryan from the New Beginnings court.

‘‘She came and saw me one morning. I was in a cell. She told me about the process, about the New Beginnings court, you know, and that you could graduate from it, and you get a placard.’’

He said the support he got through the programme, as well as the transition period once he finished, started a whole new phase of his life.

‘‘Police – they just lock you up and that’s it. There’s no lifeline there. They don’t fix the cause, basically – the judge is fixing the cause.’’

Now North is close to finishing his course in occupational health and safety and wants to work in a kitchen.