Posts Tagged ‘mental health’

« Older Entries

The Monastery opens its heart to Christchurch

April 21, 2011

Thousands of people have been affected by the devastating Canterbury earthquakes. Many people have been traumatised; many have lost loved ones, homes and businesses. Hundreds of people have gone to extraordinary lengths, working long hours to support others through this time. We know this includes many people within the non-government sector.

The Wise Group is offering those directly affected by the Canterbury earthquakes free five-night stays at the Waikato wellness retreat, The Monastery.

The Monastery is the only wellness retreat of its kind in New Zealand able to offer this kind of support. For the past six years The Monastery has supported hundreds of women experiencing stress, depression and the effects of trauma. Since the September 2010 earthquake many Christchurch women have used The Monastery as a chance to rest and rejuvenate. Their feedback has been consistent. It was transformational for every one of them.

We’re offering tailored wellness retreats for men, women and groups of family or friends who need time away to rest and rejuvenate. For more information about this offer visit www.themonastery.co.nz or call us on 0800 MONASTERY (0800 66 62 78).

Our dream is to create fresh possibilities for the wellbeing of people, organisations and communities. Providing wellness retreats through The Monastery is one way we know we can support the people of Canterbury during this difficult time

 

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Organisation Profile | Leave a Comment »

Social Work – Support Work Partnership: Improving Quality and Continuity of Care

April 8, 2011

Contributor : Barnaby Pace

A recently published column by Hooyman (2010) of a similar title, and the current Membership extension discussion document (2010) released by New Zealand’s Social Work Body, offered themselves as a catalyst for this article.  The profession of support work in New Zealand finds itself at a crossroad: the road of potential registration under social work or to continue down the non-registered path it is currently on. In discussions with social workers, support workers and employers I am aware that this is not an easy choice to make as both roads are not clear. The purpose of this paper is to briefly explore this opportunity and consider the potential benefits, not only for healthcare professionals but for the consumers of these services.

Support Worker’s Role

Over the past few years there has been much discussion regarding the role and position of support workers within the larger healthcare arena.  A British study undertaken in 1997 investigated the role of support worker within community mental health services (Murray, Shepherd, Onyett, & Muijen, 1997). Murray et al. reported support workers activities in three categories, practical tasks, social and emotional support, and mental and physical health. Caird (2001) conducted a review of the literature surrounding paradigms to support people with mental health in an attempt to get a sense of community support work in New Zealand, but it was not until Cowan’s 2008 work that the support worker role was clearly articulated. In 2009 Pace described the role as someone who “works with their clients, providing the human connection in support of them and to be a partner in recovery … encouraging their client to find their own answers” (Pace, 2009, p. 18).

How Support Workers can assist Professionals

During the 2007 New Zealand College of Mental Health Nursing conference a paper was presented entitled ‘How Paraprofessional can help you: The role and value of support workers in mental health services’ (Pace, 2007). The presentation articulated the findings of study conducted with over two focus groups comprising of 12 mental health support workers with a mean employment time of 4 years and 4 months.  The findings were delivered through the identification of three distinct themes: 1. Networking and contacts, 2. Sharing of resources and information, and 3. Sharing of experiences; each of which was discussed in turn. (more…)

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Opinion, Research | 1 Comment »

NGOs must work together to ensure continued service provision

April 5, 2011

Non government organisations need to work together in order to continue providing vital services in the face of significant funding challenges, says Platform chief executive Marion Blake.

Ms Blake, whose organisation is a national network of mental health and addiction NGOs, said that with years of austerity measures ahead, it is clear that New Zealand will not be able to invest in health in the way it has before.

“Clearly everybody in the health sector is going to have to learn to do more with less,” said Ms Blake. “We need to get more creative about how we use what we have and how we deliver services – and one of the keys to this will be collaboration. “Mental ill health is not going to go away. New Zealand has a high prevalence of anxiety, mood and substance disorders and it is estimated that 47 per cent of New Zealanders will experience a mental illness an addiction some time in their lives. “It will become essential for elements of our mental health and addiction services to collaborate, work differently with each other and even merge just as we are already starting to see happening in all aspects of organisational life in New Zealand.”

Ms Blake said that GPs should also be able to refer people directly to a community organisation contracted by a District Health Board to provide mental health and addiction services.

“Currently many NGOs can only provide help to people who have come via the hospitals,” she said. “We need to remove these barriers so that, where appropriate, GPs can refer people with a mental health or addiction issue directly to a community organisation for early and often brief intervention that could prevent them needing to be admitted to hospital.”

Ms Blake said that by working together all community services can help ensure early interventions and address issues that aggravate mental distress such as poor physical health, housing, poverty and loneliness.

“All community service providers are seeing people with mental distress. We need all organisations across the housing, social, community and health sectors to put a mental health lens on all social problems. “As a country we can continue reforming the health system steadily – but we need to work on transforming it quickly. We must get help to people faster.”

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Perspective | Leave a Comment »

No Going Back

February 22, 2011

Community care, like institutionalisation is not a place; it’s a measure of society’s relationship to difference and justice. Since the middle ages people who were physically disabled or mentally ill have been sent away.

The hospitals, institutions, asylums – call them what you like – were the physical manifestation of difference, between citizens in our communities. Always found out of town, although over time many towns grew to meet them, but enough distance to ensure that most people in the local community were not connected and indifferent to those who lived there.

New Zealand has the international reputation of being one of the first countries in the world to close our long standing psychiatric hospitals. Our mental health and addiction services now include a mix of services provided by staff employed by the District Health Boards, community organisations, General Practice and Primary care organisations and some private organisations and individuals are all part of the mix. We need the diversity of skills, experience and knowledge to work in this area because there are often many things happening to a person and their family all at the same time. The community organisations employ staff who help people stay well by connecting them to their community family and friends, this means finding places to live, things to do and employment. This is New Zealand’s mental health and addiction system, it has evolved over the last 15-20 years, it continues to develop, it is envied by many countries over the world and its success depends on each part doing what its bit well. (more…)

Tags:, ,
Posted in General Information, Opinion, Perspective | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 31 other followers