MDHB News

Consumer, Family & Whanau Team

The Consumer, Family & Whanau Team is committed to working in partnership to enhance the service experience of people who access and are supported by MidCentral Mental Health & Addiction Services.

The team have very close links to service users, their families, whanau, treatment teams, including local, regional and national stakeholders in both the mental health and addiction sector. They bring a range of skills, knowledge, qualifications and lived experience of using mental health and addiction services.

The team is guided by the vision “Flourishing Futures” for service users, their family, whanau, the workforce and community.

Recovery

Recovery and the principles which underpin it have become increasingly important to the provision of services.

“Recovery is being able to live a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by each person in the presence or absence of symptoms. It is about having control over and input into your own life. Each individual, whanau or families’ recovery journey from mental health problems or illness, is a unique and deeply personal process.”

Mental health is important as it affects every aspect of our lives. There is no health without mental health. Service users, their families, whanau and carers have a right to participate in, and provide input into, decisions that are likely to affect them. For this reason the Consumer, Family & Whanau Team welcome any ideas, feedback and comments on how MidCentral could better progress and improve current service provision within our region.

If you would like to offer any feedback or meet with any of the team, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.

The Team

Consumer Advisor – Community

The Consumer Advisor for the Palmerston North Community Mental Health Service actively promotes recovery from the perspective of knowing how hard it can be, while knowing life can and does get better. The Consumer Advisor provides systemic advocacy to the service and offers support to anyone using MidCentral Mental Health Services by walking alongside service users, their families and whanau through the service journey.

Contact Details

Ruahine House
Community Health Village
Gate 12, Ruahine Street
Private Bag 11036
Palmerston North 4442
Phone (06) 350 8184 Ext 7936

Family & Whanau Advisor

Families/whanau need support in negotiating their way through the experience of mental illness. The Family/Whanau Advisor provides this support as well as to the Service User/tangata whaiora to meet their own needs as family/whanau with a family/whanau member experiencing mental illness.
Support is provided by:

interpretation of information, and guidance to families/whanau to increase their participation in the service
assisting family/whanau members in determining their needs, and provide a key coordination role between Whanau and mental health services. This includes education in the skills and strategies families/whanau must develop to help them through the experience, and to assist in the recovery of their family/whanau member and promote whanau Ora (Family/whanau wellbeing)
working in collaboration with family/whanau organisations to develop a strong family/whanau focus for the wider mental health sector.
Development of support systems for families/whanau across the continuum of care.