Te Ara Oranga – the pathway to well being
Published:
July 31, 2024
Te Ara Oranga aims to respond to the harm caused by methamphetamine in the community by supporting the person and their whānau with a health response instead of treating the matter as a criminal issue.
Te Ara Oranga provides a rapid response (within 24-48 hours) to referrals from several sources, including the police, self-referrals, whānau and other providers.
Te Ara Oranga offers a range of interventions to people to enable them to address their addiction and offer support to their whānau. The range of services to whānau across multi-agencies led by peers who have lived experience in recovery from the harm caused by methamphetamine use to themselves, their whānau and their communities
The team comprises Addictions Clinicians and Pou Whānau Connectors – who are connected to their local communities – and who support engagement with the referred people. There is also a role in the Emergency Department, which offers AOD screening and brief interventions.
The independent evaluation of the service has demonstrated its success, providing positive outcomes for people and their whānau and reducing the harm caused by methamphetamine in the community.
Background:
In 2016, the former Northland DHB – now Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau – Mental Health and Addictions Service responded to the concerns raised by the Northland Social Well-being Governance Group about the community harm being caused by the use of methamphetamine in the region.
It was noted that there had been a fivefold increase in the number of methamphetamine users presenting to our service. We knew from our community that the problem was much bigger, but people were not accessing treatment.
An opportunity was presented to work with NZ Police to create a joint venture to reduce demand and the harm caused by methamphetamine in Northland.
Te Ara Oranga was initially funded as a 12-month pilot for an innovative and integrated model of Policing and Healthcare to reduce the supply and demand for methamphetamine and its associated use and harm in Te Tai Tokerau.
In 2018 Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau successfully applied for ongoing funding from the Ministry of Health to continue the services that had been established.
In 2020/21, an extensive external evaluation of the Te Ara Oranga services was completed by Crows Nest, which recognised the model of care and the work that has been ongoing since our original pilot. Te Ara Oranga is a successful model for engaging with communities and intersectoral collaboration to improve the health and well-being of Northlanders. Many of the learnings can be applied further afield, noting that models and resources must be tailored to meet the local community’s needs.
The Crows Nest evaluation states that ‘Te Ara Oranga is a unique partnership between police, government mental health and addiction services, community groups and iwi service providers, providing support to individuals to get them out of the methamphetamine cycle of abuse.
The sophisticated response adopted by the people of Northland is evident in the change in mindset across agencies, professionals, and communities…’.15′ The Evaluation of Te Ara Oranga: The Path to Wellbeing – Final Report (2021)
Te Whatu Ora – Te Tai Tokerau has recognised that learnings have come out of the evaluation report. In response to this, we have identified several further improvements that could be addressed to further enhance the service.
Improved ways of working:
The following recommendations are related to these three pieces of work:
- Te Ara Oranga evaluation report
- Evaluation workshop outcomes
- Strategic planning day outcomes
The four pillars of the national Mental Health & Addiction, which support well-being, have been prioritised within the strategic planning and inform the structure supporting the recommendations.
These four pillars are Partnership, Kaupapa Māori, Whānau Centred and Lived Experience.
The evaluation workshop held with local stakeholders in 2021 prioritised four areas for improvement that the service is currently focused on developing (within existing funding). These are:
- To support building partnerships and assess community needs.
- To review and strengthen the whānau support arm of Te Ara Oranga.
- To purchase and implement a Client Management System which supports a multi-agency approach
- To implement a joint assessment and exit tool.
In addition to the improved outcomes that have been demonstrated for people and their whānau accessing the programme, such as:- becoming meth-free, reducing use and harm minimisation, finding employment etc., the cost-benefit analysis was demonstrated as favourable in the Crows Nest Evaluation report.
Read more Te Ara Oranga website
