Health improvement practitioners in New Zealand

HIPs are one of the roles in the IPMHA workforce in Aotearoa. These roles are modelled on the behavioural health consultant roles in the United States. The HIP roles have been piloted in New Zealand, alongside other roles such as health coaches and dedicated mental health and addiction support workers working in an integrated primary mental health and addiction service approach.

A health improvement practitioner is part of a general practice team and holds a registration. Here is the Practicum guide for HIPs where you can check the eligibility criteria.

The health improvement practitioner programme is designed for people who are new to the HIP role. To attend you need to have employment as a HIP in a general practice. HIP training is designed to develop the knowledge and skills for the health improvement practitioner (HIP) role and to provide support to apply this in daily practice.

To see the HIP training pathway, here is the Practicum guide for HIPs.

Te Pou has been rolling out health improvement practitioner training since February 2020, using an American behavioural health care model developed by Patti Robinson. Throughout 2020, a review was undertaken to align the content of the HIP training to a New Zealand context, reflecting adult learning principles. Based on the feedback we received, some changes were incorporated, and the new programme structure was delivered from January 2021. Te Pou also works with a group of experienced and dedicated HIP trainers in New Zealand to deliver this training.