"Providing services for tāngata whaiora and whānau in a culturally safe and inclusive way means our people are much more likely to reach out for and have a positive experience accessing support."
One of the key features of these new services is they are underpinned by a kaupapa Māori model informed by and anchored to mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).
"Services like these are intended to be a first point of contact for tāngata whaiora Māori with mild to moderate mental health or addiction needs," Henare said.
"We know that Māori have struggled over the years to get meaningful support, so this is an excellent development for people here in Bay of Plenty and Whakatāne who may not have found the right support they needed through existing programmes."
Henare visited the Poutiri Wellness Centre yesterday, just one stop on a national tour of new kaupapa Māori access and choice providers.
He got to see first-hand how Poutiri Trust's Mataora service has developed and the positive impacts it is having across Western Bay of Plenty in partnership with Ngāti Ranginui.
The service was established in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, the trust has largely recruited and started its services to meet the growing need for proactive Māori primary mental health supports and services that reflect Māori ways of living and being.
Poutiri Trust chief executive manager Kirsty Maxwell-Crawford said the Mataora service is a significant boost for the Māori mental health and addictions workforce capacity.
"It means we can respond to whānau in need, who have taken the brave step of reaching out for help. We have increasing numbers of whānau contacting us in times of stress, whānau wanting counselling or to access a Māori therapeutic service. Mataora allows us to be responsive to their needs."
She said being able to develop the Mataora kaupapa Māori primary mental health service in a way that values and makes available Māori healing modalities is exactly what was needed.
"Māori whānau want to access services that recognise their realities and how they see the world. Through the Mataora service whānau can access a range of supports including healing that comes from connecting with mātauranga Māori, pūrākau [story telling], or through tā moko as whānau seek or affirm their whakapapa and cultural identity as part of the healing process."
In the Eastern Bay of Plenty, the Toi Kaiawha service is being delivered by Tūhoe Hauora.
The Hauora's mission is to improve the holistic wellbeing and mental wellbeing of Ngai Tūhoe and those people residing within the boundaries of Tūhoe and the new service is intended to be the first point of contact for tāngata whaiora Māori with mild to moderate mental health or addiction needs.
Tūhoe Hauora CEO Pania Hetet said the initiative enabled the Eastern Bay of Plenty Iwi Provider Alliance, made up of Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Te Whakatōhea and Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau, to build the capacity and capability in its mental health and addictions workforce.
"[It] gives the opportunity for Tūhoe to practise their mana motuhake with moving our people from a state of 'Kahupō ki te Toiora' utilising our Tūhoe developed practice framework and tools."
Tū Tika is the service provided by Waiariki Whānau Mentoring in Whakatāne.
The programme will help improve the support available to stop small issues from becoming big problems.
Waiariki Whanau Mentoring board chair Waata Heathcote said Tū Tika has been fundamental in terms of accessing the unreachable in order to gain health equity and real solutions for whānau.
"Covid has uncovered many unseen and hidden issues around mental health and addictions whereby we have been able to manaaki whānau through unresolved trauma in a way that's conducive to their needs, that are healing and humanising. Most trauma is a result of sexual harm including rape and molestation.
"Through our assessments we've also been able to triage our nurses to assess comorbidities that otherwise would not have been found which recently resulted in one of our whānau being treated for an undiagnosed heart condition as he hadn't accessed the health system for over 20 years.
"Tū Tika kaupapa has been key in aligning our whānau within our service to get the critical assistance needed to deal with mental health and addiction."
