Addiction Leadership Day Christchurch 2019

The day started with a mihi whakatau by He Waka Tapu Terry Huriwai and Lynette Hutson, co-chairs of NCAT. Terry and Lynette introduced the day and noted that NCAT will be reviewing membership to ensure this stays representative of the needs of the changing sector and to support each other in the right way to support the sector and the work they do.

Steven King of The Salvation Army is part of the group reviewing the Health and Disability Standards, which apply to residential treatment providers in particular, and presented on the work of the review which is endeavouring to simplify the standards, reduce duplication and ensure that mental health and addiction is included specifically in the new standards.

Murray McEachen and Dianne Matthews of Odyssey House Christchurch presented about New Zealand’s only older person’s addiction specific programme, 65 Alive. They described their programme of work both with individuals and whānau and with community carers including rest homes. They also introduced a trailer for a series of training videos called Tipple and Topple.

There was recognition by all at leadership day that older people's addiction issues need to stay on the agenda as with the ‘baby boomers’ ageing these issues are becoming more prevalent.

John Vogenthaler of Te Pou and Matua Raki presented on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and the development of resources, including An introduction to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) - free e-learning course and a pilot training programme for frontline workers. 

Of particular interest was the co-design process that Matua Raki, Te Pou, community providers across disciplines and sectors along with whānau and people with lived experience of FASD, utilised to develop the training programme and accompanying resources. His presentation was well received by the audience and there are hopes that the training will be more widely available in the future.

Rhonda Robertson of Te Pou provided an update of work underway on the peer workforce development strategy, the peer workforce competencies, with dapaanz on a peer work code of ethics, the refresh of the Real Language, Real Hope resource and planning for next years mental health and addiction peer and lived experience forums.

Trish Gledhill of Te Pou led a presentation on the relevance of the refreshed Let's get real to the addiction sector and the alignment of Let's get real to He Ara Oranga. The refresh has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health and service representatives from the audience provided concrete examples of how Let's get real has been and can be used to enhance recruitment, engagement with people accessing services and service delivery.

A significant proportion of the day was dedicated to exploring the development of a national Model of Care for addiction treatment in New Zealand. Richard Taylor of the Ministry of Health presented the current thinking of the Ministry following some sector consultation but was clear that this is a work in progress.

Richard then posed four questions to the audience about the direction of the proposed Model of Care and what was missing and needed to be included.

The results of the group discussion will be included in further development of the model before it goes out to the wider sector for consultation.

Nicky Taylor of The Salvation Army then described her work in gambling harm support in Christchurch, providing background data and prevalence, highlighting the Public Health approach to reducing harms.

Rounding off the day Michelle Brewerton of Te Pou presented on the 5-Step Method of working with whānau of people with addiction issues and how it can make a difference to their wellbeing, as demonstrated by outcomes in Aotearoa.

Presentations from the day may be downloaded from the Matua Raki website.