Development opportunities for support workers
Te Whatu Ora Southern is building a workforce led by people with lived experiences.
In other words, mental health and addictions patients will be able to interact with people who’ve gone through the same challenges as them.
Te Whatu Ora Southern has set up a development hub to support and mentor a growing consumer, peer support and lived experience (CPSLE) workforce established after its 2021 review of mental health services in Southland and Otago.
It will be led by long-time mental health volunteer Carron Cossens.
The hub will connect CPSLE workers and volunteers across peer and mainstream organisations in Southland and Otago.
“The key focus will be on building connections and networks, learning, sharing information, and mentoring,” Cossens said. “It will also have a role in providing some training and supervision for the workforce, and co-ordinating information about other training and resources to improve practice,” she said.
Step one of building the hub is setting up a website where the CPSLE workforce will be able to access resources and find out about training options.
The hub aims to offer the CPSLE workers a monthly learning focus and a chance to connect with other workers around the district to build relationships.
They’ll also get a chance to visit locality networks that bring together different agencies to address the health needs of a specific community.
Carron said the vision of the hub was that the CPSLE workforce would feel connected, supported, and valued and that the tāngata whaiora (a person seeking health), or whānau they work with would have a workforce that felt valued, motivated and informed.
“I’m delighted to be setting up the hub, and excited to have been chosen to provide this new service to strengthen and support our CPSLE workforce.”
The development of a lived experience-led workforce development hub is one of the key actions in the Southern Consumer, Peer Support and Lived Experience (CPSLE) Workforce Development Action Plan 2023-2025, which was created as part of the Time for Change – Te Hurihanga programme.
The Time for Change – Te Hurihanga programme is a focused programme led by the Te Whatu Ora Southern to address health, equity, location, social and systemic issues and put people at the centre of care. It is part of the direction to transform Aotearoa’s mental health and addiction system over the next 10 years outlined in Kia Manawanui Aotearoa.
Te Whatu Ora Southern group director of operations Hamish Brown said it was great to see the progress made through the programme. “We have two new services providing peer support, and now the announcement of the hub to support the CPSLE workforce based on what the Southern workforce and community have said they need,” he said.