About us

The Fast Track Inclusion (FTI) Trust works to create transformative, measurable outcomes for vulnerable children, youth and their families by strengthening emerging community leadership. 

The trust carries out social innovation applied research to accelerate social inclusion for marginalised people throughout New Zealand.

The Fast Track Inclusion (FTI) Trust was launched in 2012 by a group of academics and business people who work in social change. Trustees worked in a range of social and environmental project which created good value for society, however when funding ran out, these projects were typically shelved. The trustees wanted to extend the value that these projects could still produce by contributing their time and knowledge, beyond the projects' funding life. The FTI trust does mostly volunteer work as described on its website, applying for philanthropic funding only to meet certain necessary operational costs. We have worked on social change project funded by organisations such as MSD, Community Waikato/the Tindall Foundation, IHC, Te Pou, the Todd Foundation and private corporations.

We identify and train emerging leaders from within vulnerable communities. By envisioning their future positively and sustainably, they tap into their collective wisdom to grow as social innovators. Sharing their learning from within their communities they then power up a 'leadership pipeline'. 

Our teamwork with stakeholders, officials and NGOs focuses on a common aim, viz. for participants to become change agents for their children, a proven way to enhance return on social investment, with quantifiable and measurable outcomes. The FTI Trust is supported by the expertise of its Trustees and Advisory Board. Please click here to read more about our team.

Our Programme Director, Dr. Annick Janson is an Associate at the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research, Victoria University of Wellington, past Research Director at the NZ Leadership Institute, University of Auckland Business School and Research Director, Microsoft NZ. She is the c-President of the New Zealand Association of Positive Psychology and Fellow of the Gallup International Positive Psychology Institute. Annick trained as an educational psychologist with 20 years of experience and lived experience raising her adult disabled son. Her special interest in youth development and network building in the disability sector. Annick is Co-Founder and Research Director of the Now and Next and Keys to Lead suite of programs for youth and families. Rolled out in New Zealand, Australia, Finland and Canada, this Research and Development program pioneers the implementation of Positive Psychology in the Health & Disability sector as an alternative to the traditional deficit-based medical model.

Our team has extensive combined experience in the program co-design methodology, in facilitation and in local connections and networks. 

Janine

Janine has lived experience with disability. She teaches at tertiary level in Linguistics, Human Development, Anthropology and Management. After tutoring and lecturing for 20 years, she shifted into the Disability sector, supporting youth and their family/whanau of those with needs. Working with youth inspires Janine to do better and consider things from more than one point of view – There's more than one way to get to the same end point and she has found that the journey to get there has more meaning than that final goal attainment. “I find that I learn just as much from those keen enquiring minds as they do soaking up the knowledge I bring for them to take and shape in their worlds”.

Melissa

Growing up as the sister to a neurodiverse person has been a powerful experience. Melissa believes that societies can benefit enormously, when people with disabilities are supported in such a way that they can contribute and share their gifts, as her brother has. She especially enjoys working with other siblings. In the past 6 years she set up an on-site Positive Behaviour Support team at a residential service provider, made up of about 180 people with disabilities and upwards of 500 staff. Together with her colleagues, she worked to create a space of wellbeing rather than crisis, by training staff in simple evidence-based strategies to use with people they support everyday. She has joined Now and Next, as she knows that this wellbeing and prevention work should start early. She is excited about teaming up with families and supporting their unique journeys.

Bryony

Bryony grew up in Kirikiriroa and, after spending her twenties exploring the world, has made Whāingaroa her home. She joined Youth Quest in 2023 and brings with her a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Waikato. She is currently completing her clinical psychology training. Bryony’s background is in special education, where she supported rangatahi with complex needs. Her warmth, dedication to helping young people grow into independence, and her wonderfully silly sense of humour make her a valued member of our team.

Kate

I’m passionate about neurodiversity-affirming practices and culturally responsive approaches, especially those that empower Māori and other marginalised communities - particularly within the disabled student population. As someone with lived experience of both autism and ADHD, I’m deeply aware of the societal and systemic barriers disabled students and people face, especially in schooling and psychological services. My biggest goal and passion in life is to help improve outcomes and wellbeing, and to contribute to changing those systemic issues for tamariki and rangatahi wherever I can.

Maddie

When I first came about the Youth Quest programme it was through one of my past kindergarten teachers, who taught me through my time at Mackenzie Center, Trisha Benge. Growing up I was diagnosed with dyspraxia and Mackenzie Center really helped me through that stage in my life and I truly believe it made me into who I am today. Trisha was one of my biggest supporters during my time there, so being recommended onto the Youth Quest program to give it a go was honestly one of the best opportunities I had been given. When I first did the program myself it was really cool to see what the program is all about and how it benefits so many people. Goals are always one of the biggest things people struggle with, especially knowing how to start one, the program outlines this well in the structure and leaves people who attend the course feeling like they're on the right track and are starting to succeed their journey towards their goal. One of my goals was based on creating a better study habit towards studying outside of class, from talking to Annick and the factailtors I was able to open my idea into a study planner and it has helped me in multiple ways. I was lucky enough to be approached by Annick about joining the Youth Quest team after completing the first workshop and decided to join. During my time now as a factailtor on this wonderful team I can see how much work is endlessly put into it and how Annick and everyone else puts themselves forward to give their best out of these workshops we present to the people that come along. I have heard from many people that they find these workshops beneficial, supportive and most of all guiding in ways of helping them to understand more things about themselves or who they may desire to become. These workshops impact so many people greatly and I know for a fact that if they keep going we can keep guiding so many people and make the workshops even better. I truly am so grateful for the opportunity of being a factailtor and I hope to keep factaliting as time goes on. 

Ruby

Kia ora! My name is Ruby Gibbs and I live in Whāingaroa Raglan. I have been involved with Annick and Youth Quest since early 2024 when I completed the course myself, and I have since facilitated three programmes. I completed my Bachelor's and Post Grad Diploma in Psychology in 2013 and am currently studying to become a secondary social studies teacher. I have experience working as a teacher aide in both special education and mainstream schooling. Myself and Bryony Wilson also run a holiday programme for special needs children in Whāingaroa. I am passionate about youth mental health and am involved in a lot of community initiatives in Raglan. 

Since our 2015 launch, we have published a large body of research, video testimonials, presented at national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed and wide public journals. Our group is supported by researchers from 10 Universities (more details here). Please see these resources at: https://now-and-next-alumni.blogspot.co.nz and our list of publications here.

Media article

From: Warr, L. (April 2022) Dannevirke programme aiming to help young people decide their futures, Hawkes Bay Today.

NZ Herald article

A programme designed to help young people make better decisions for their future is about to take off in Dannevirke.

The programme, facilitated by Janine Morrah and Annick Janson of Plumtree Learning, will be held at Tararua REAP next week. This pilot programme is being piloted for those aged between 11 and 23 for the first time.

She said it had been created with the help of funding from the Eastern and Central Community Trust.

The programme used positive psychology techniques.

"It's basically goal-setting and goal-getting so it's a visioning tool that the individuals work on by themselves," Morrah said.

She said her role as facilitator was more to guide the participants, rather than teach them what to do.

"It's their own thoughts, their own goals, their own aims that we then assist them to work towards. We help them strategise and start to see what's possible. And the ways to get it successfully."

Instead of each participant starting with a high goal that might not be so easy to reach, the goals would be broken down into achievable steps.

They would then be able to build on those steps.

Morrah said it was like being the "ambulance at the top of the cliff rather than the bottom". By catching young people early enough, she could show them what was possible, instead of them getting into trouble.

"The opportunities for trouble are a lot more public and quite often catastrophic in the sense that they become absent from our culture rather than having the ability to say, 'Well, I've stuffed up and I'm going to make amends here'."

Another part of it was showing the participants that even when they didn't succeed at something, they could try something else instead of giving up.

The programme had been chiefly aimed toward those who had been disadvantaged in some way, but Morrah said the definition of that was fairly loose.

"It might be that you might not be meeting your milestones at school. You might have some kind of unrecognised disability or mental health sort of situation," she said.

It was also more about giving people the wherewithal and the tools to make decisions they were comfortable with, rather than reacting to events or expecting someone else to do things for them.

Morrah said the hope with the programme was to identify those who took part as peer facilitators so they could go on and train to deliver the programme to their peers.

"They feel enabled and empowered to go on and continue this process, having experienced it themselves. And that's much more effective."

She said by doing so, it would strengthen the community with people coming through the programme that could better support others in their community.

Morrah had worked with Tararua REAP in the past and one of the things she liked about doing this programme with them was that it would complement other courses they offered.

"I think the pairing with Tararua REAP has been phenomenal. They're very responsive to this. And they really do see that it's got very real potential. The working partnership with them I think is just incredible."

Once the pilot programme had been completed, Morrah and co-facilitator Annick would take a report back to the trust. The hope was to get enough funding to continue offering the programme to the wider community.

"We believe that this is of value to the community," Morrah said.