Let's get real glossary
The following descriptions have been taken from a variety of sources, including material prepared by Klub Ngaru and from the Ministry of Health’s Let’s get real framework. The descriptions are not meant to be definitive. Further discussion, enquiry and reading about the terms is strongly recommended.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
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| Acculturation | The learning of the ideas, values, conventions and behaviour that characterise a social group. |
| Addiction | In the context of Real Skills, addiction relates only to alcohol and other drug use and/or problem gambling. It refers to a maladaptive pattern of substance use. Substance use disorders and pathological gambling disorder are characterised by dyscontrol, tolerance, withdrawal and salience, and they are considered chronic relapsing conditions. |
| AOD | Alcohol and other drugs. |
| Assessment | A service provider’s systematic and ongoing collection of information about a service user, used to form an understanding of the service user’s needs. A clinical assessment forms the basis for developing a diagnosis and an individualised treatment and support plan with the service user, their family or whānau, and significant others. |
| Aroha | Love; compassion; empathy. |
| Atua | God or gods. |
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| Blueprint | 1998 Mental Health Commission document Blueprint for Mental Health Services in New Zealand: How things need to be (Mental Health Commission, 1998). |
C |
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| Children and young people | People aged 0 to 19 years, inclusive. |
| Community | The people living in a particular area, or people who are considered as a unit because of a common nationality, culture, occupation, belief, interest or experience. |
| Competency | The attitudes, skills, knowledge and behaviours of health practitioners and support workers that enable them to perform particular functions. |
| Consumer | A person who experiences or has experienced mental illness and who uses or has used mental health services. Other terms often used are service user and tangata whaiora. |
| Co-existing problems | Incorporates mental health and addiction (i.e. alcohol and other drug and problem gambling). |
| Culture | The shared attitudes, beliefs, values, experiences and/or practices of groups in society. |
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| Dual competencies | A term developed by Te Rau Matatini to mean the best clinical practice underpinned by indigenous concepts and values of healing. Dual competency is a key strategy for developing the Māori mental health and addiction workforce. |
| Dual diagnosis | Co-existing mental health and addiction disorders (co-existing is the preferred term). |
| DHB | District health board. District health boards are established under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. |
E |
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| Evidence-based practice | An approach to decision-making in which the clinician uses the best evidence available, in consultation with the service user, to decide upon the course of action that suits the service user best. |
F |
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| Family | Relatives, whānau, partners, values, experiences and/or practices of groups in society. |
H |
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| Hapu | Sub-tribe. |
| Hauora |
Health and well-being. In traditional kōrero, hauora was the breath or spirit of life. |
| Health outcome | A change in an individual’s or group’s health, which is attributable to one or more interventions. |
| Hinengaro | This is often viewed as the psychological or mental dimension of the person. In traditional kōrero, hinengaro is the deep mind or consciousness. |
| Hui | A gathering or meeting. |
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| Intervention | Action taken to improve a situation. |
| Iwi | Tribal group. |
K |
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| Kāhui tautoko | Support group. |
| Kaimahi | Worker, staff or employee. |
| Kaimoana | Seafood. |
| Kaitiaki | Guardian. |
| Karakia | Prayer, incantation or blessing, including whakawātea (prayer of release), whakatau (beginning prayer), whakangāwari (calming prayer), whakamurua (prayer of forgiveness) and whakamutunga (concluding prayer). |
| Kaumātua | Elder, or older person. Often older males are called kaumātua and older women are called kuia. |
| Kaupapa Māori | Māori purpose or Māori principle. |
| Kawa | Protocol and etiquette. |
| Kiwaha | Māori colloquial saying. |
| Kōrero | Speech, speaking or narrative. |
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| Mana | Often defined as status and standing, mana is the spiritual power that may be accorded to a person or group through ancestral descent, possession of certain gifts or achievements. Personal mana can be enhanced through the collective opinion of the people. |
| Mana motuhake | Autonomy. |
| Mana whenua | Authority of the land. |
| Manaaki | This is the expression of love and hospitality toward others and the act of taking care of them. |
| Marae | Principle place of gathering, or the context in which Maori custom is practised. |
| Mental health | A state of well-being in which the individual recognises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. |
| Mental health and addiction sector | The organisations and individuals involved in mental health and addiction, to any degree and at any level. |
| Mental health promotion | Actions taken for the purpose of fostering, protecting and improving mental health. These can arrange from community level interventions that cultivate skills, attitudes and behaviours conducive to mental health. Mental health promotion applies to the whole population in the context of everyday life – it is not just for those who experience mental illness. |
| Mental illness | Any clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome characterised by distressing symptoms or significant impairment affecting a person’s ability to function. |
| Moana | Refers to the sea and lakes. |
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| Ngahere | Refers to the bush and forest. |
| NGO | Non-government organisation. |
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| Older person | Person aged 65 years or older. |
P |
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| PDRP | Professional development recognition programmes. |
| Peer support | Occurs when people provide emotional or practical help to each other. It can take a number of forms, such as mentors, listening, or counselling. Peer support is also used to refer to initiatives where colleagues, members of organisations and others meet as equals to give each other support on a reciprocal basis. ‘Peer’, in this case, is taken to imply that each person has no more expertise as a supporter than the other and the relationship is one of equality. |
| Pōwhiri | The ritual of encounter and engagement. |
| Primary health care | Essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound, culturally appropriate and socially acceptable methods. Primary health care is universally accessible to people in their communities, involves community participation, is integral to and a central function of the country’s health system, and is the first level of contact with the health system. |
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| Rāhui | The practice of prohibition. |
| Recovery | Living well in the presence or absence of mental illness or addiction and the losses that can be associated with it. |
| Resilience | Concepts of resilience (literally, the ability to ‘bounce back’) have been developed through years of research examining how some individuals do well in many areas of their lives despite severe challenges and/or deprivations. |
| Reo | Language or Māori language. Traditionally, language to Māori was the lifeblood of the culture, considered as a gift from the gods. |
| Rongoā | Traditional Māori medicine and health practice. |
| RPL | Recognition of prior learning. |
S |
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| Service user | A person who uses mental health services. |
| Support worker | In mental health services, a non-clinician who works with people with mental illness. |
T |
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| Tangata whaiora | Person seeking wellness, or a mental health service user. |
| Tangata whenua | People belonging to the land. |
| Tangihanga | Funeral. |
| Tapu | Often defined as restricted or sacred, tapu is a state that provides the link between the mana of the gods and the spiritual powers of all things derived from the gods. All things have an inherent tapu. In modern times, tapu has been reframed in a protective sense to encompass secular things (for example, confidentiality, trespass). Restrictions and prohibitions protect tapu (well-being, dignity and sacredness) from violation. |
| Tautoko | Support. |
| Team | This word is used in a broad sense throughout Let's get real. ‘Team’ can mean the formal team of which you are a member in your own service or organisation. ‘Team’ can also mean the group of people from services and organisations with whom you work to support service users recovery which could include service users themselves, their families/whanau and significant others. |
| Te Kōkiri | Te Kōkiri: The mental health and addiction action plan 2006–2015 (Ministry of Health, 2006) sets the next steps for progressing the 10 leading challenges in Te Tāhuhu: Improving mental health. |
| Te Tāhuhu |
Te Tāhuhu: Improving mental health 2005-2015: The second mental health and addiction plan (Ministry of Health, 2005) sets the high-level strategic framework to guide the existing and future action that the government expects to be the focus of mental health and addiction policy from 2005 to 2015. Its 10 leading challenges focus on improving whanau ora, recovery and wellness for people, families, whānau and communities that are affected by mental illness and addiction. |
| Te reo Māori | The Māori language. |
| Tikanga | Code of conduct, method, plan or custom. The right way of doing things. |
| Tinana | Physical dimension, or the body. |
| Tino rangatiratanga | Self-determination. |
| Tohunga |
Healer or expert. |
| Trauma-informed care | Care that is grounded in and directed by, a thorough understanding of the neurological, biological, psychological and social effects of trauma on people, as well as an understanding of the prevalence of these experiences in those who receive mental health services. Trauma-informed care also recognises that mental health and addiction treatment can itself be traumatic for service users (not just those with trauma histories) and that practitioners may be affected when working with very distressed clients. The service seeks to minimise trauma for all service users and practitioners. |
| Tuakiri tangata |
Persona, personality and identity. Tuakiri tangata embraces aspects of mauri, hinengaro, auahatanga, whatumanawa, tinana, wairua, pumanawa, mana, tapu and noa. |
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| Waiata | Sing; chant; song. |
| Wairua | Spiritual dimension. For many, the spiritual or inner force affects how people feel and how they respond. |
| Wānanga | Learning or discussion |
| Wellness, working towards | For some people with addiction, working towards wellness is the preferred phrase to describe alcohol and other drugs models that empower service users, and encourage positive attitudes in order to increase motivation for behaviour change. |
| Whakamana | Empower or enable. |
| Whakanoa | To cleanse, purify or settle. |
| Whakatauki | Māori proverb. |
| Whakawhanaunga | To build relationships. |
| Whakawhanaungatanga | Process of getting to know each other; establishing whānau relationships; relating well to others. |
| Whānau | Often defined as family and birth, whānau has been proposed as a key component of Māori identity and the healing process. Whānau describes groups interconnected by kinship ties. In modern times, groups use whānau to encompass their common purpose, and they have adopted whānau values. Whānau is also used to refer to the family and extended family or group of people who are important to the service user. |
| Whānau ora | Family health. Healthy Maori families that achieve maximum strength and well-being, both individually and collectively. |
| Whanaungatanga | Recognises relationships. Whanaungatanga is kinship in its broadest sense and concerns itself with the process of establishing and maintaining links and relationships. |
| Whenua | Land or placenta. |
