Some key reasons why Te Pou is developing tools and guidance for talking therapy programmes.
Talking therapies have been proven to address a wide variety of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, psychosis, bipolar, alcohol and substance use issues, eating disorders, trauma and many more.
"More than any other aspect of service I’ve received, talking therapies gave me a chance to tell my stories in a purposeful way – to be heard, to hear myself, and with support to start making meaning from my experiences… Through this process I’ve been able to integrate my experience of mental distress positively into my identity and my life." – Fiona Howard, service user.
Talking therapies are cost effective. A New Zealand based cost benefit analysis, adapted from the UK Department of Health’s economic model, found that for every dollar spent on talking therapies, society could expect to receive $6.26 in increased output and cost savings.
A stepped care approach to talking therapies connects primary care, DHB and NGO services at different levels of intervention. A stepped care approach ensures people get the right support, whichever door they enter.
"I wish it had been easier for my brother to access the right type of talking therapy in the community. He had complex needs making him ineligible for a standard package of care but he didn’t want to engage with secondary services again due to previous experience. Instead he tried to make me his counsellor, and that didn’t work." – Emma Skellern, family member.
Talking therapies available in the community through GPs, practice nurses or other health services can support people showing early signs of unhappiness and stress. This can prevent serious issues developing, and build resilience and wellbeing.
Since 2004, clinicians and people who have a lived experience of mental health and addiction have been asking for talking therapies to be available to anyone who need them. This message first published in ‘Our Lives in 2014’ (Mental Health Commission, 2004) continues to be reinforced.
A summary of a report looking at the economic value of talking therapies.
This report looks at evidence from New Zealand-based talking therapies and international research to help plan and implement talking therapies.
3 November 2016
Karen Ramsay (allied health director, mental health addictions and intellectual disability service, Southern DHB said leadership is her passion and that the work of leaders in the health system is to bring people along with them in the interests of providing the best possible care, and to involve service users in that care as well.Choose which list to add this to, or create a new one!