Henare checks out mental health work
Associate minister keen to see effects of Mataora service in Te Puke community
Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare was in Te Puke last week to see firsthand the positive impact a new kaupapa Ma¯ori mental health service is having for the local community.
He got to see how Poutiri Trust’s Mataora service has developed and the positive impacts it is having all over Western Bay of Plenty in partnership with Nga¯ti Ranginui.
The service, and others like it, are being funded through the Government’s $455 million investment to expand access to and choice of primary mental health and addiction support in primary and community settings announced in the 2019 budget.
The service was established in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the challenges that presented, the trust has managed to start the service to meet the growing need for proactive Ma¯ori primary mental health support and services that reflect Ma¯ori ways of living and being.
Poutiri Trust chief executive Kirsty Maxwell-crawford said the Mataora service is a significant boost for supporting its work in the areas of Ma¯ori mental health and addiction.
“It means we can respond to wha¯nau in need, who have taken the brave step of reaching out for help. We have increasing numbers of wha¯nau contacting us in times of stress, wha¯nau wanting counselling or to access a Ma¯ori therapeutic service. Mataora allows us to be responsive to their needs.”
She said being able to develop the Mataora kaupapa Ma¯ori primary mental health service in a way that values and makes available Ma¯ori healing modalities is exactly what was needed.
“Ma¯ori wha¯nau want to access services that recognise their realities and how they see the world. Through the Mataora service wha¯nau can access a range of supports including healing that comes from connecting with ma¯tauranga Ma¯ori, pu¯ra¯kau [story telling], or through ta¯ moko as wha¯nau seek or affirm their whakapapa and cultural identity as part of the healing process.”
After the visit Kirsty said the trust wants to provide people with choices and options based on ma¯tauranga Ma¯ori “because that’s about making sure [services] are able to reflect Ma¯ori ways of being and knowing which are often absent when you are trying to access health and addition services. So many families have to cut off a significant part of who they are and transform only into a clinical way of seeing the world — and we are wanting to provide both.”
Kirsty said the extra funding is enabling the Poutiri Trust to have cultural practitioners who are also experienced in the space of wellbeing.
The trust wants to provide support early rather than when people have reached crisis point.
“For lots of services prior to this there’s a criteria for access and lots of times, if its not serious enough, then [people] won’t be able to access the services which we’ve always thought was a crazy way to go because we want to help people to stay mentally well so they won’t need to access services over time.”
While the Covid-19 pandemic has added layers of stress, the mental health issue is one that has been growing over the past decade, said Kirsty.
She said it was “fantastic” the associate minister had visited and that the trust was able to share with him the realities of the situation and also the innovation that’s happening “at the coal face”.
But, she said, it is just as important for the community to keep the trust accountable and let it know whether or not it was on the right track.
The associate minister said providing services in a culturally safe and inclusive way means people are much more likely to reach out for and have a positive experience accessing support.
“Services like these are intended to be a first point of contact for ta¯ngata whaiora Ma¯ ori with mild to moderate mental health or addiction needs.
“We know that Ma¯ori have struggled over the years to get meaningful support, so this is an excellent development for people here in Bay of Plenty . . . who may not have found the right support they needed through existing programmes.”