Tēnā koutou kātoa,
As you know, a piece of work is taking place to re-envision the Adult Community Mental Health Service as a Local Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Service. This would bring together a core set of mental health functions – community mental health, crisis response, and access and triage – into a single integrated service.
Last year an initial design group developed several options for how this approach could be operationalised. Following consultation with stakeholders across the district, including people with lived experience, Māori, Pacific, disability, MHAIDS kaimahi and the community, a high-level concept was developed, setting out a model for a new way of working, in line with a set of underpinning principles.
Design workshops
After feedback was gathered on the draft proposal, three design workshops took place in March, at which approximately 60 stakeholders from across the Mental Health and Addiction sector came together to map out the new service. We would like to thank and acknowledge the commitment of those who attended. You provided lots of feedback and challenges - everybody worked hard, and we have lots more to do.
Workshop 1 focused on process mapping the new service, identifying what is needed to build a wider understanding of the role of the specialist team (including local partnerships and relationships), and the enablers and supporting infrastructure needed to deliver the new service. Find out more about Workshop 1.
Workshop 2 saw groups map out ‘A Day in the Life’ of the Local Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Service. They planned how the service and its functions would work in real life, and stress tested the new model using real life scenarios. Groups then identified and discussed the top five challenges for the new service, before turning their minds to implementation approaches - the starting points for change, and what success would look like. Find out more about Workshop 2.
Workshop 3 had a strong locality focus. Attendees formed groups based around locality (Kāpiti, Porirua, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Wellington), and from their locality’s perspective, were invited to consider what works well, the unique challenges in that locality, and key relationships. They then focused on determining the critical activities each service must provide (such as triage, assessment, therapeutic interventions and assertive outreach). Find out more about Workshop 3.
Next steps
Next, we will be seeking some more specialised feedback from a few other groups to make sure we have canvassed all the perspectives needed to move forward. This, along with what we learned at the workshops and other feedback received, will help shape a detailed design plan for the Local Specialist Mental Health and Addiction Service, which will be presented for consultation in April.
After feedback from that consultation has been integrated, we will have a new way of working, and it is intended that the first changes will start rolling out around July this year. This will be an iterative process - we will not change everything overnight. We will communicate with kaimahi and stakeholders, particularly those whose roles may change, throughout this process.
Find out more
Please email mhachange@ccdhb.org.nz with any questions.
Wakaiti Saba Alastair Willis
Group Manager Clinical Director
Mental Health and Addiction Services
