Equally Well collaborative enters a new phase

As the Equally Well collaborative moves into its seventh year, we want to continue to maximise collective efforts to achieve physical health equity.

Together we have shifted thinking and brought changes in practices and changes in policies across the health system – this is commendable. Everyone is doing what we can in our spheres of influence, small and big. Over the seven years we have learned more about the ways in which the health system contributes to inequities, and have been developing solutions to address these.

As the mental health and addiction inquiry team noted in He Ara Oranga, Equally Well is an excellent example of collective impact. How great to get this acknowledgement, yet we need to keep learning not just about what action to take, but how to work effectively as a collaborative. We need to be a whole lot more than the sum of our hundreds of endorsing organisations. That is the only way we will achieve our shared goal - physical health equity for tāngata whai ora.

Working as a collaborative, delivering collective impact means learning to work in different ways. We need to continue to involve diverse champions, partners need to drive actions and initiate and lead action groups. We want collaborative members to see and understand what we are all doing, so actions across the collaborative are visible – that way we can see our collective impact and where we still need to focus our energy and resources.

To help us reconnect, develop new solutions and expand possibilities for Equally Well, the backbone team are hosting a series of webinars starting in May and going through to August. You can find our more about these webinars and register using the links below.

Webinar 1, 10 June 2021: Leadership structures and backbone functions

Webinar 2, 21 June 2021: Ngā Waka O Matariki

Webinar 3, 13 July 2021: Evaluation findings

Webinar 4, 17 August: Expanding possibilities

Meanwhile, Te Pou and the Equally Well collaborative will be working with the Health Quality and Safety Commission's Mental health and addiction quality improvement programme priority area of "Maximising physical health". You can read more about the programme and Equally Well's involvement here.