Mental Health Sector needs Maori Input (Radio Waatea)

The Associate Minister of Health, Tariana Turia, says a hui on Maori mental health has highlighted the need to increase the number of Maori working in the sector.

The hui in Whangarei of the New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses looked at workforce development issues and at various strategies for treating tangata whaiora.

Mrs Turia says there are historic and societal reasons for the disproportionate number of Maori with mental health problems.

“The loss of identity. The loss of land. The loss of the essence of who we are as a people. That in itself creates a situation of unwellness in us,” Mrs Turia says.

The hui focossed on the following:

• The Maori nursing classics
• Innovative models for the prevention of suicide for Maori
• A leading Indigenous workforce development programme
• Kaupapa Maori health service models of practice
• Kaupapa Maori mental health services transition from mainstream to Iwi
• Optimising the mental wellbeing of Wahine Maori
• A new Maori pepi – mama parenting programme
• A symposium profiling Maori nursing models

One in three Maori will have an episode during their life involving mental unwellness.

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• Te Ao Maramatanga (New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses)
  is the professional body for practising Mental Health Nurses in New Zealand

(Source | Radio Waatea)