So how do we know who Scott Harvey is? He is a registered social worker, but he does not sit in an office, there are no high gloss posters, there is no receptionist, he does not wear a suit and there is no clipboard. He is just here on the streets of Aotearoa New Zealand next to a car and a few signs that read ‘Are you okay bro?’ and ‘Stop 4 a yarn!’

I saw Scotty and his colourful car parked in Tauriko and Te Puna before I finally got an opportunity to stop and talk with him in Greerton. Just before I shook Scotty’s hand, he had been talking to a teenager on his way to nowhere from school. The boy did neither know where to turn, who to talk to nor how to go on.  Within an hour and after plenty of tears, he had not only unburdened himself for the moment, but he also had an emergency plan and the assurance that he was just human and that it was okay to feel this way.

Many of us will come to feel like this on one day or another. Some of us drive beat up vans and others BMWs, and we are all okay to feel this way. So thank you Scotty for reminding us that there is a way out- it often starts with a yarn with a total stranger.