Service user influence
People with experience of mental distress and or addiction provide valuable direction and insight towards service quality, improvement and efficacy. Their experiences of using services create unique useful perspectives and knowledge.
When service users inform and guide service design, delivery, evaluation and planning, services support and serve people and their families in more effective ways.
People with experience of mental distress and or addiction are an important influence on Te Pou’s work.
Service users:
- provide and facilitate service user sector perspectives, leadership and feedback
- provide strategic advice and inform and lead planning and project development
- write, review and edit documents and website content
- participate with staff recruitment, learning and development
- sit on reference groups and editorial boards
- write articles, documents, plans, reviews, reports and content.
Service user workforce development
Te Pou has dedicated service user positions that are an integral part of all our work. These positions support the development and growth of the service user and peer support workforce. Te Pou provides leadership in supporting and developing the service user workforce alongside other mental health and addiction organisations.
This collaborative way of working provides the best opportunities to share knowledge, optimise success and reduce duplication.
Key initiatives
- The Mental Health and Addiction Service Evaluator Workbook, a resource produced as part of the development of standardised recovery evaluation tools across mental health and addiction services.
- We surveyed the service user/consumer/peer support mental health and addiction workforce. The report created from the survey provides good information about the current capacity, capability and potential of the workforce.
- We participate in key service user development initiatives across New Zealand such as the Sentinel collaboration of service user leaders.
- Te Pou has supported Balance NZ to develop a website for the New Zealand Peer Support Network.
- The development of a consumer advisor resource kit.
- We host peer support forums and are working to create a common understanding of peer support work and its workforce.
- We have developed Let’s get real workshops targeted at the service user workforce.
- We have developed capacity for qualified professional service user supervisors by facilitating training for this workforce.
- We ensure that service users are an integral part of the workshops Te Pou delivers to the mental health and addictions workforce.
- Tangata whaiora/consumer scholarships are available for the Executive Leadership and Management Programme delivered by Blueprint.
- We are training service user and family/whanau leaders as outcomes trainers.
- We are creating resources and workshops to support service users and family/whanau using mental health information.
