Service user influence across Te Pou

The service user perspective and influence is present across all of Te Pou's work programmes. This page provides a summary of the work being carried out by our Workforce, Information, Research and Le Va teams in this area.

Workforce

There has been plenty of recent activity at Te Pou in the Workforce programme, the primary focus being the launch of the Let’s get real enablers.

The service user perspective and influence across the Workforce programme is a key focus of our activities, which include but are not limited to the following.

Let's get real - document reviews, planning, feedback, identifying service user expertise and participation when required.
CLIMATE MH e-learning - review, consumer perspective, New Zealand context.
Nursing professional supervision project - providing consumer input, advice and perspective.
Handover nursing newsletter - editorial board, reviews and edits all content and facilitates consumer contributors.
Nursing leadership, valuing leaders in acute inpatient services co-facilitation and specific workshop development and delivery, including a resilience plan for nurses.
Talking therapies - document review.
Primary mental health - website content review.
Seclusion: Time for change - project team and advisory work.
Interview panels and advisory functions.
Regular meetings of the service user team across Te Pou.

Workforce development centres

Regular meetings have commenced between the service user roles at Te Pou, Matua Raki and The Werry Centre. This ensures opportunities to work together and share knowledge are optimised giving all our work higher chances of success and eliminating duplication.

Talking therapies

Te Pou has published a user-friendly guide to talking therapies for service users and family members. Feedback from early consultation suggested that people were confused about the words and names of different therapies and what each aimed to do. Te Pou has worked with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) to produce this guide. RANZCP have completed the guide after further consultation with several people including service users, families and clinicians. The document is called A Guide to Talking Therapies in New Zealand and aims to clearly describe each therapy, what mental health issues it is best used for, and how people can access it. Printed copies of the guide are available; please email anne-marie.erick "at" tepou.co.nz with your contact details and the number of copies you require.

Future work

Information gathered from forums, the discussion document and sector feedback has seen several themes identified for future work. From these, four have been prioritised for the Te Pou Work Plan 2009/10. These are subject to Ministry of Health approval.

The themes include:

scoping and describing the service user workforce
supporting Balance NZ in the development of an e-based National Peer Support Network
facilitating and supporting the service user workforce, services and workers to implement Let's get real through the use of the Let’s get real enablers
using Let's get real as a foundation, facilitate the development of competencies for peer support work
identify mechanisms to develop a well-trained sustainable pool of service user supervisors.

Let’s get real

Let's get real is a framework of values, skills and attitudes that every mental health worker should be able to demonstrate. Let’s get real challenges every person working in mental health to use positive values and attitudes to underpin their work, and work in ways that recognise the strengths, values and choices of the people they work alongside. This supports the active participation of people in their own recovery, the sustaining of hope and growth of resilience.

Resources and enablers to help with getting started using Let’s get real are now available for download and use.

If you have any questions or require more information or a presentation regarding Let’s get real, or require more information on service user workforce development at Te Pou, please contact Emma Wood, national workforce manager or Carolyn Swanson, service user workforce development manager.

Service user workforce scholarships by Te Pou

Tangata whaiora/consumer scholarships are available for the Executive Management and Leadership Programme delivered by Blueprint.
Tangata whaiora/consumer scholarships to attend IIMHL exchanges and meetings have been available since 2006.
In 2009 there were six tangata whaiora/consumer scholarships to attend consumer advisor training.

Information - engaging service users in outcomes and information development

What is Te Pou doing?

The Information programme assists the mental health workforce to focus on outcomes tools that measure changes in service users' health, wellbeing and circumstances over time. This information supports recovery, ensures services are culturally responsive, and that comprehensive assessments are completed.

Te Pou promotes effective engagement and comprehensive assessment practices as fundamental to the collection and use of valid and reliable data. Understanding the principles behind measuring outcomes of people who access mental health services ensures that all aspects of information work (collection, analysis and use of activity and outcomes information) are linked to recovery.

Activities and outcomes

Te Pou stresses the importance of service user participation and leadership in the quality and quantity of mental health information. There is a need to increase awareness of, and current access to, mental health information about service users.

The ‘Onwards, upwards and outcomes’ training has been developed and delivered. This dedicated package informs service user leaders' and champions' understanding of the use of outcomes measures.

Te Pou provides updates to service users about outcomes through its training days, e-bulletin, networks, forums, meetings and conferences. The Information programme also develops material to raise awareness of mental health outcomes and information for use by service users.

Currently Te Pou signals the shift from information collection to information utility in all its training and activities, highlighting the reciprocity between feeding back outcomes and effective engagement which the primary use of information rests on.

Te Pou stresses the importance of service user participation and leadership of the quality and quantity of mental health information. There is a need to increase awareness of and current access to mental health information about service users.

Valuing lived experience of recovery

A recovery paradigm underpins all our work, and Sue Rostron holds the national position of information lead - service user, to facilitate service user engagement and direction. This includes work in service user engagement, outcomes and information development and training.

The mental health sector relies on mental health data and an 'information infrastructure', so all stakeholders can use mental health information, at local and national levels, effectively.

If you have any questions, or require more information regarding service user information and outcomes development at Te Pou, please contact Sue Rostron, information lead - service user.

Research

Knowledge Exchange

The Knowledge Exchange supports the translation of knowledge into action by igniting a passion for learning, embracing information sharing and research collaboration. Inspirational stories about mental health and addiction initiatives are shared to support service innovation and delivery towards best outcomes for service users. The Knowledge Exchange has stories of change, a funding library, tools and a database of mental health research.

Consumer self-assessed outcomes measure: Taku Reo Taku Mauri Ora - My Voice, My Life

The development of Taku Reo Taku Mauri Ora - My Voice, My Life has been led by Case Consulting. The final report and 79-item measure have now been completed.

Te Pou is committed to the implementation of a consumer outcome measure in New Zealand mental health services. We have always supported the development of Taku Reo Taku Mauri Ora. The tool was commissioned as part of a suite of outcome measures for routine use in mental health services.Te Pou manages this contract on behalf of the Ministry of Health. The measure is 'owned' by the Ministry of Health on completion of the contract with Case Consulting, not Te Pou.

At this stage, the measure is not ready for national implementation. This is reiterated in the report about the measure from Case Consulting. Further testing and refinement is required before it could be implemented as part of a national group of outcome measures.

The decision to implement Taku Reo Taku Mauri Ora is a Ministry of Health decision. Te Pou will work with the Ministry of Health to make the outcome measure available to mental health services.

Service user evaluation

A training package to train service users as service evaluators using recovery-based models of evaluation is currently being developed, trialled and finalised. If you have any questions or require more information regarding Taku Reo Taku Mauri Ora contact Jane Vanderpyl, national research manager.

Le Va

Focus on service users

Just as we are trying to infuse Pasifika throughout the mental health and addiction services workforce, so too are we trying to infuse service user input and participation throughout Le Va.

First and foremost is the reference group, Le Leo o le Va, which has Maria Glanville and Karlo Mila-Schaaf among its fold - not just for their personal experience but for their wisdom and leadership as well.

Within our project work we have a number of people who identify as having personal and lived experience, including participants in Le Tautua, the emerging leaders programme. We also worked closely with Papali'i Johnny Siaosi and Waitemata DHB around the planning and implementation of the Fakatu'amelie funded National Pacific Consumer's Conference.

Matutaki, the recruitment strategy, has been compiled not only with young Pacific people's input and consultation but also a number of young Pacific service users. We have also worked closely with Like Minds, Like Mine and TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika on a dual series which focuses on telling the stories of Pacific people with experience of mental illness.

Many of our projects are led by people with personal experience. All achievers in their own right, they have been employed for their knowledge and abilities in project management or research. These projects include the development of Kato Fetu - Pacific research agenda, Aka Putuputu - Pacific workforce stock take, Le Tautua - emerging leaders programme and mentoring programme, Seitapu - Pacific competencies and Matutaki - recruitment strategy

The Inaugural Pacific Consumers and Family Recovery Conference 2009

This was sponsored by Le Va and was a high profile event for Pacific consumers by Pacific consumers.

The conference was attended by over 150 people including consumers and their families. The National Pacific Consumer and Families Forum/Network was launched which is linked to four regional networks.

If you have any questions or require more information regarding Le Va, please contact Dr Monique Faleafa, national manager.

Page last updated: 12 May 2010