Authors: Samantha McIntosh, Stephen Smith, Guy Baker
Year: 2022
Event: 2022 TheMHS Conference
Subject: new zealand, suicide prevention, peer support
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: LEAD PRESENTATION: Unity; A True Collaboration Supporting The Whole Of Community After Suicide
Samantha McIntosh, Stephen Smith
Wellways has partnered with Thirrili to ensure that the First Nations communities are supported in a culturally safe way, following a suicide death. At the core of the partnership is a willingness to work transparently, keeping cultural traditions and approaches at the centre of all supports, community engagement and capacity restoration. We are united in a no wrong door approach to supporting individuals and communities after being impacted by suicide.
Key components of the partnership includes; the development of culturally considered postvention protocols, keeping at the centre, Elder engagement, roles of Aboriginal Medical Services and Social Emotional Wellbeing Programs. This partnership highlights how, through shared resources and approaches, First Nations People have access to appropriate supports when they need it the most.
This presentation will highlight specific examples of collaborative practice between a mainstream mental health service and specialist organisations such as Thirrili, tapping into expertise to support positive outcomes for the families, friends and workplaces bereaved by suicide. In a time where organisations are often competing for funding and key performance indicators, this partnership highlights a desire to keep First Nations people at the centre, by not competing for work, rather, genuinely keeping families and the bereaved at the centre of support.
PANEL PRESENTATION: Peer support - promoting Mātauranga Māori and enabling a rights-based mental health system
Guy Baker
In 2018 people across Aotearoa shared their personal stories during the Government Inquiry into mental health and addiction. The inquiry report, He Ara Oranga, reflected calls to increase the range of services and supports, including peer support and leadership:
“We were told that a markedly different workforce is needed, with more peer-support workers, community-based workers, and Māori and Pacific support services… People wanted peer support to be acknowledged as a basic component of services and to receive better funding”
As Aotearoa undertakes significant system transformation, there are new opportunities to embed peer roles and leadership across the system. In this presentation we will share what we have learnt from organisations, peer workers, and tāngata whaiora and whānau (people and families with personal lived experience) including:
o How peer support and lived experience leadership can promote Mātauranga Māori and a te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership to help improve outcomes
o How peer support and peer advocacy can enable a rights-based mental health system
o What is needed to remove barriers so the peer workforce can play a key role in the mental health and addictions system as it changes to meet the vision of He Ara Oranga
This resource is only available for subscribers. If you have a subscription, please log in. Otherwise, click here to purchase a subscription.