The Te Manawanui Collaborative includes Pinnacle MHN, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki DHB, Tui Ora and Pathways NZ.
This resource page provides an update, and answers some of the more frequent questions about Te Manawanui.
If you would like to know more about Te Manawanui please reach out, contact details below.
Te Manawanui is the Taranaki Integrated Primary Mental Health and Addiction Service funded through the Ministry of Health (MOH) Access and Choice initiative. This funding was announced in the government’s Wellbeing Budget 2019 and was in response to one of the key recommendations from He Ara Oranga – the report of the government inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction.
The key recommendation being that primary health care be transformed, with the ability to upskill and enable local community responses to, and prevention of, mental health and addiction problems.
Primary mental health services have existed in some form for over 10 years. Despite the high prevalence of mental health challenges in Māori communities, utilisation of these services by Māori has been low. This has increased the disparity in mental health outcomes for Māori. This is evident in suicide and acute hospitalisation rates. As a result, the Access and Choice initiative has given priority to Māori, along with pasifika and youth.
Our Collaborative was successful in securing funding for this service in 2020. Te Manawanui makes a range of supports rapidly available to a general practice’s enrolled population to help people manage challenges that adversely affect their wellbeing. These include brief interventions, support for self-management, and social and cultural supports. The service is designed around Taranaki Māori communities to provide mental health and addictions support that is culturally responsive, accessible, practical, and convenient.
The partners in our Collaborative have shared responsibility for, and vision of, achieving equity for Māori in Taranaki. We have taken learnings from other regions who have implemented a similar model, along with a co-design process that included whānau and providers to develop a service that meets the unique needs of Taranaki whānau. We have a focus on improving accessibility and suitability of mental health support to Māori. Ngāruahine Iwi Authority, Ngāti Ruanui Ta'ua Ltd, and Tui Ora Ltd play a key role in our partnership and bring deep and trusted connections with whānau throughout Taranaki.
Te Manawanui involves new roles integrated with general practice – a Health Improvement Practitioner (Kaiw’akaako-a-‘auora) and Kaitautoko (Cultural Support Worker). Health Improvement Practitioners are registered health professionals that are embedded into the practice and are available to meet with people who are connected with the practice to listen, understand and provide advice. Kaitautoko with relevant lived experience, relationships and connections walk alongside people to support and coach them as they seek to achieve their health and wellness goals.
Te Manawanui is a whole of health approach, enabling increased access to people at the time and level that it is needed.
Te Manawanui addresses the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that underlie poor health, integrating mental health and physical health needs. Our new roles are generalists and work across the life span, just like general practice.
Implementation of Te Manawanui is phased, and dependent on release of funds from Ministry of Health. Our Collaborative selected a first tranche of practices in 2020/2021 based first and foremost on the enrolled population of Māori. Following this, we used iwi boundaries and geographic location in our selection process. The new roles are funded to practices on a 1 full time equivalent (FTE) Health Improvement Practitioner/ 10,000 enrolled population so many Taranaki practices are required to share resources.
Also, of importance in our selection/implementation process is consideration of physical space for the new roles to practice and practice team willingness to participate in the required aspects of service delivery.
The practices selected in our phased roll out, and details of FTE of the new roles are outlined in the attached practice selection sheet (below).
Te Manawanui does not replace existing services it builds on existing services, such as Taranaki Primary Connections (TPC). It is one part of a broader pyramid of services – as shown in the diagram below. Te Manawanui supports the bottom two tiers. We acknowledge that at the end of our three tranches of implementation we will not have reached total coverage for the Taranaki population. As a Collaborative we are working together on plans for ways of working together to ensure we provide support to the rest of the community.
Hayley Arnet, Kaiwhakahaere kaupapa/Senior project manager
hayley.arnet@pinnacle.health.nz
022 188 2392
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