S27: Peer principles driving evaluation, learning and improvement: Getting started with Toka Tū.

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By September 21, 2017 No Comments

Authors: Treena Martin

Year: 2017

Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference

Subject: Lived Experience, Recovery,Research & Evaluation Informing Practice,Service Systems, Delivery, Implementation

Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers

Abstract: So how good are our peer services? At Emerge Aotearoa, we’re using Toka Tū to find that out, and learning plenty in the process. Toka Tū is a rubric developed by the peer sector in New Zealand from internationally recognised best practice. The tool facilitates a comprehensive, structured self-review of how well peer services are supported and delivered against 16 criteria.

Toka Tū provides quantifiable results that inform quality improvement, but that’s not all. We see Toka Tū as a learning tool; using it has provoked questioning and explorations, helping us develop a common understanding of peer support, recognise and draw on collective strengths and identify opportunities for systemic improvements. This ‘process use‘is well recognised in the evaluation world (Patton, 2008) , and is already contributing to the learning and maturation of our peer community of practice.

The presentation will give an overview of Toka Tū and our implementation. We will share the learning and benefits gained from its use to date.

Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: The audience have an understanding of the Toka Tū tool specifically and feel able to give it a go as the tool is freely available and is a practical and relatively easy way to self-evaluate the quality of peer support services.
The audience would benefit from our experiences of using the tool – implementation, experiences and some available results to understand the flexibility of the tool in practice.
Additionally they would understand the value add of the evaluation process itself; the ‘process use’ aspect that is not unique to this tool, but can go unnoticed when the focus is just on results.

Learning Objective 2: The topic is relevant to mental health services as the Toka Tū tool has been developed by and for the peer sector in Aotearoa, New Zealand, based on internationally recognised best practice. Toka Tū guides a structured and comprehensive review of what is necessary and unique for high quality peer support services to be delivered, so supporting quality improvement. The tool has been available since 2014 and there has been little shared about experiences of its use to date.

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