Workshops

An Introduction to Working with Older People in the Addiction Sector

Matua Raki will be running some workshops on An Introduction to Working with Older People in the Addiction Sector in April 2012. These workshops are for addiction practitioners who want to know more about working with the older people who appear to be accessing addiction services in greater numbers as our population ages. These workshops will attract a different audience to the Kina Trust Alcohol and Older People workshop in the Hawkes’ Bay.

The workshops will cover:
 • Values, attitudes and stigma associated with older age
 • Engagement and communication
 • AOD use and older adults
 • Screening, assessment and intervention
 • Loss and grief associated with aging

The workshops will be facilitated by Suzy Morrison and participants will earn DAPAANZ continuing education points.

The workshops will be held in three venues around the country.

Wellington
     Date:  Tuesday 17 April 2012
     Time:  9.30am to 4.30pm
    Venue:  Tui Room, Blueprint for Learning
            Level 3, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro, Wellington

Christchurch
     Date:  Monday 23 April 2012
     Time:  9.30am to 4.30pm
    Venue:  Terrace Lounge, Russley Golf Club
            428 Memorial Avenue, Christchurch

Auckland
     Date:  Friday 27 April 2012
     Time:  9.30 to 4.30pm
    Venue:  Room 112-1002, Ground Floor, Unitec NZ
            Gate 4, Carrington Road, Mount Albert, Auckland

Patricia Rainey
Training and Events Administrator
Matua Raki
patricia.rainey@matuaraki.org.nz
www.matuaraki.org.nz
P O Box 25-056
Level 6, Aviation House
12 Johnston Street
Wellington

CEP Forum

The forum will discuss how services can meet the needs of those experiencing addictions and mental illness

With the Ministry of Health beginning to focus on the needs of the significant proportion of people who experience addiction issues alongside mental illness, regional DHBs have been required to reflect on how their services meet these needs and make plans for improvement.

Mental illness and addictions which occur together for people, referred to as Co-Existing Problems (CEP) in Ministry and DHB documents, are currently largely treated as separate health concerns, creating a situation where service users can find it difficult to have their needs met in a holistic way.

Plans such as the ‘Draft Canterbury Plan for Co-Existing Mental Health and Addictions Problems’ aim to outline how integrated services can be supportive of people with mental health and addictions diagnoses.

In response to this plan, Awareness, Canterbury’s mental health and addictions service user network, will be holding a forum for consumers to share their views on what helpful CEP services could look like, and for service providers to begin discussing how the NGO community sector can make use of CEP resources.

The need for community and peer support services aimed at meeting the needs of people with both mental health and addictions challenges is great. In holding this forum, Awareness hopes to support the process of developing services with consumer views taken into account.

Speakers confirmed for the forum include:
• Fraser Todd, Senior Lecturer at the National Addictions Centre
• Sandy McLean, Planning and Funding, CDHB, involved in developing the CEP plan
• Beth Nobes, Service Delivery Manager, Consumer Advocacy Services at MHAPS
• Angel Tanerau-Love, CEP peer advocate at MHAPS (Mental Health Advocacy and Peer Support)
• Marc Beecroft – Regional Alcohol and other Drugs consumer advisor on the Ministry of Health CEP steering group

The Awareness CEP forum will be held on Tuesday 27th March, 12.45-2.30pm at the Mental Health Education and Resource Centre (MHERC), 403a Worcester Street, Christchurch. Entry is free and open to all interested, including people who have used mental health or addictions services, service staff and mental health or addictions service managers.

Youth Mental Health Forum

On Thursday 16th February, Awareness held our first forum for the year, looking at current issues and research in youth mental health. Kelly Pope spoke on a research project she undertook last year as part of her sociology degree at Canterbury University, while researcher Mark Turner and peer support worker Phil Snape talked about the peer support program they have delivered and evaluated youth mental health service Totara House.

Kelly’s research looked at the transitions young people face when crossing the age barrier between youth and adult mental health service access, and highlighted the issues youth face with current service provision. A key finding of this research project was the identification of what is lacking in youth mental health care and young people’s suggestions for providing better support including improving access to crisis support in a comfortable environment, reducing waiting lists and introducing more support options, including mentoring type support, for transition-aged youth.

Flowing on well from this was the presentation by Phil and Mark about their work providing peer support to young adults in a group setting. Peer support is characterised by equal power relations between those running and those taking part in the groups and the mentoring role the support worker plays, drawing on their own experience of mental illness to connect with the people they are helping. Mark and Phil’s presentation showed the positive impact peer support can have for individuals, and the beginning of data collection that indicated increased wellbeing for support group attendees more broadly.

Thanks to all those who came along, we had great attendance with about 60 people there and it was a really successful day. For those interested in finding out more about youth mental health, we are selling copies of Kelly’s research report to raise funds for the seclusion DVD Awareness is producing and 298 Youth Health Centre, please email awareness.pctrust@xtra.co.nz if you would like a copy.

Forum – 16th February 2012

In a few weeks Awareness will be holding it’s first forum of the year with the Collaborative for research and training in youth health and development. Speakers at the forum will be discussing research with young people using mental health services and how services can support youth with experience of mental illness. This discussion will be of interest to people involved in research, support staff, service managers, consumers and young people and anyone is welcome to attend.

Date: Thursday 16th February 2012
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Location: Latnam House, 449 Colombo Street, entrance back door (off Battersea Street) (View map)

Kelly Pope: Young people’s experiences of transitions from youth mental health services

Undertaking a research internship for Korowai Youth Wellbeing Trust, student Kelly Pope chose to look into the experiences of young people leaving youth mental health services when they reach the service access cut-off of age 18.

Interest in this research topic stems from Kelly’s personal experience of using youth mental health services and working in the mental health field. She will be presenting the findings of the research including participants’ recommendations for service improvement.

Phil Snape & Mark Turner: Evaluating peer support in a youth mental health service

Peer Support, which involves people who have lived experience of mental illness providing support, has been shown to be beneficial to people experiencing psychosis.

With a gap in the research whether peer support is beneficial to young people, researcher Mark Turner and peer support worker Phil Snape, provided and evaluated a peer support program at early intervention for psychosis service Totara House.

Phil and Mark will be presenting on results of the support groups and feedback from those involved.

Afternoon tea will be provided

Happy New Year from the coordinator

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year’s break.
I have been back in the office this week and there are many exciting Awareness projects in the pipeline. Our first meeting for the year will be on Monday the 13th of February and everyone is welcome to attend. Closely following this, we have two forums coming up in the next couple of months. On 16th February we will be holding a joint forum with the Collaborative for Research and Training in Youth Health and Development discussing research and peer support in youth mental health services, and a forum on coexisting disorders, how mental health and addictions sectors can work together is planned for March. I will be about on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays like last year, and look forward to hearing from people who are interested in being involved in Awareness or any of our working groups.

- Kelly

Unhappy Pills?

Unhappy Pills? – TV3 Sunday 7.30pm 4 December 2011.

Can anti-depressants cause people to kill themselves, or even kill others?

Melanie Reid talks to visiting Irish professor, David Healy, who claims that there is a very real risk of suicide from taking anti-depressants.

He says only one out of every ten people is helped by so-called “happy pills”, and he claims that pharmaceutical companies have hidden evidence about the effectiveness and risks associated with psychiatric drugs.

Reid finds out how Healy’s advice differs from the orthodox medical view in New Zealand, that these pills do more good than harm.

And she talks to a 17-year-old who is searching for answers following the death of his brother and mother? Could psychiatric drugs have contributed to his Mum taking the life of her 8 year old son before taking her own?

Watch it on ‘TV3 ONDEMAND’

Download zipped MP3 audio file

Press Release

With issues effecting mental health and addictions service-users in the spotlight as we approach this year’s general election, a consumer organization based in Canterbury has asked local candidates for their parties’ views on key concerns for the mental health and addictions communities. “Proposed policies around education, health and welfare which the parties standing for election are advocating for are all very relevant to consumers and could make an immense difference to our experiences of using services” comments Kelly Pope, a member of the network.

Click here to download complete Press Release

- Late Update – Late Update – Late Update – Late Update -

Liann Dalziel has replied to our questionaire, a little late to be included in the press release, as follows:

1. Where does your party stand on the question of whether the ring-fence in mental health funding should be maintained?
Labour will re-instate the ring-fence for mental health funding. It is important that we not only focus on delivering services to those most in need, but also on preventing future demand through early intervention, support for those with lower acuity illness to be able to self-manage, and a public health approach to maintaining mental wellbeing.

2. Where does your party stand on the reduction and elimination of seclusion?
Labour currently agrees with the Ministry of Health guidelines on seclusion which set out to over time, limit the use of seclusion and restraint on mental health patients. However we would be willing to discuss this issue with Awareness Canterbury and would consider reviewing these guidelines in the future.

3. As health is presently population funded and Canterbury’s population has decreased due to the earthquakes, how would your party ensure mental health and addictions services are able to meet the increased needs of the Canterbury population since the earthquakes?
Providing services for New Zealanders experiencing poor mental health and working to maintain mental wellbeing throughout the population are both of heightened significance at this time. During a period of economic instability coupled with a series of disasters, demand on mental health services inevitably increases. Globally, the incidence of depression and anxiety is increasing.

Labour acknowledges the importance of mental health and will restore it as a health priority for District Health Boards. We will require District Health Boards to set appropriate targets for the restoration and enhancement of mental health services.

4. Where does your party get mental health information and advice from, and would you like to open a discussion with us?
Labour receives mental health information and advice from a diverse group of people in the sector including consumers, health professionals and interest groups. We are always open to discussing issues and would be happy to meet with Awareness Canterbury.

Forum

This morning we held a forum with the Human Rights Commission discussing the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes on the mental health and addictions communities. Those who came along all contributed great ideas for the future rebuild of Christchurch, as well as sharing stories which the city can learn from in terms of better meeting the needs of people affected by the quakes. Speakers from the Human Rights Commission will be compiling the points people raised and will be sending this information back to the membership and are also keen to have ongoing dialogue with Awareness and the wider mental health and addictions communities. It’s not too late for people to have their views passed on to Human Right Commission. Do you have any thoughts or reflections on how services met the needs of consumers following the earthquakes? What ideas would you like considered in the rebuild? Feel free to comment or contact us at awareness.pctrust@xtra.co.nz

Greetings from the coordinator!

Hi all, I’m Kelly and have just begun work as the Awareness consumer participation coordinator. Prior to this role, I have been working in mental health support work and really enjoy working in the mental health sector. I have been an active member of Awareness for the last couple of years, having experienced using mental health services myself, and am looking forward to doing more work with Awareness in this new role. Some of the things I will be doing in this position will include general admin things, managing the membership list & growing the Awareness membership, and working collaboratively with the group on projects like forums, submissions and many of the other awesome things Awareness does!

If you wish to contact me, or if you know people, who are interested in being involved in Awareness, please feel free to send me an email at awareness.pctrust@xtra.co.nz

13 June 2011 – AGM

At 1230 we arrived at the St Albans / Merivale Bowling Club and began our customary pre-meeting networking session as we consumed a delicious lunch. Near one o’clock we began the formal AGM when we were rudely interrupted by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake which sent us cowering under the tables. We assembled outside shortly afterwards and decided to postpone the AGM until next month.