HFNZ Youth Camp 2017

The first big event for 2017 is National Youth Camp. This year Youth Camp runs from April 20th to 23rd, and it'll be held at the Waipara Adventure Centre in North Canterbury.

Growing up is exciting, challenging, and often very confusing. When a bleeding disorder is added to the mix the challenges of young adulthood only increase. The Youth Camp, for 10-18 year-olds, uses a combination of education, fun, and peer and mentor support, to help young people move to the next stage of managing their condition. The focus is on being well-informed and better able to make decisions about their bleeding disorder treatment, education, work, life-style and relationships.

One of the things we try really hard at here at HFNZ is being inclusive. We recognise that bleeding disorders impact on all sorts of people in all sorts of ways. That's why we run such a broad range of events, from the National Children's Workshop, to Family Camp, to Adult Weekend. This Camp is aimed at young men and women with a bleeding disorder who have done the Children's workshop and Family Camp, but are not ready for the full adult activities yet. Youth Camp gives them a chance to learn about growing up with a bleeding disorder, from people who have been there, and from other experts.

The way we look at it, we have some fierce young leaders in our organisation. Young people who work hard and achieve highly, who will go on to represent us internationally, and will lead us into the future. We think that it's important that we nurture everyone all the way through.