Emerge Aotearoa

Emerge Aotearoa provides tailored and intensive treatment programmes to support clients in their immediate and long-term recovery from addiction and substance abuse.

Addiction and substance abuse occurs where alcohol or drugs dominate how a person functions. This is often accompanied by a physical and / or psychological dependence. It is a compulsion to use a substance or persist with certain behaviour no matter what, in order to feel good or to avoid feeling bad.

Addictions are different for everyone – depending on the substance, behaviour the person craves and the type of person they are.

At Emerge Aotearoa, our qualified clinicians and peer support specialists have come together to create and deliver programmes that cater to each individual's needs and recovery goals, in the safety of their own community. We work with our clients to understand the root cause of their addiction and support them to make positive changes in their lives.

Emerge Aotearoa also offers specialist Dual Diagnosis services for clients who are affected by mental illness and drug and alcohol issues.

It's easy to know when your child has a fever, but a child's mental health issue can be harder to diagnose. Even a mild mental illness can have a big impact on a young person's life and can lead to disruptions at home, at school or in the community.

Tackling child and youth mental health issues is complex and challenging, however help is available.

Emerge Aotearoa provides services for infants, children and youth with mental health and addiction support needs, or who require care, protection and support.

Our child and youth services work alongside families and whānau to ensure positive long-term recovery outcomes are achieved for clients.

Emerge Aotearoa provides a number of culturally specific services in order to assist clients on their recovery journey.  Our support workers come from a range of backgrounds and cultures, including Maori, Pacific Island, Asian and European and where possible, clients are matched with an age, gender and culturally compatible support worker.

Emerge Aotearoa (Northland and South Auckland) offers a range of activity and recovery-focused day programmes which help clients to develop greater life and living skills.

Our Whariki Whaiora Family and Community Centre (or simply, Whariki) is a community based service (located in South Auckland) managed by people with lived experience of mental illness. The Centre provides on-going advocacy, peer support, information, life skills, activity and education programmes to family / whānau, the local community and to people with mental illness who are living within the community.

In Northland we have the Recovery Education Hub, (The REd Hub), based in Whangarei, which also provides a range of community based service.  The REd Hub courses provide opportunity for people to build structure and routine into their lives, while boosting confidence and resilience through socialising and development of life skills and mastery of craft skills in an understanding and supportive environment.   The REd Hub courses are designed to meet people’s individual goals and recovery pathway.  Courses are varied in length and commitment, and tangata whaiora can book into as many or as few as desired, as long as there are spaces available.

Examples of free day programmes provided by Emerge Aotearoa at Whariki and REd Hub include:

• Work readiness programmes
• Literacy and numeracy training
• Understanding the effects of drugs and alcohol
• Women's group
• Self esteem
• Art therapy
• Maori workshops
• Tai Chi
• Volunteering
• Relaxation classes
• Men's group outing
• Men's peer support group
• Healthy lifestyle
• GROW (A 12-Step Programme)
• WRAP training (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)
• Mosaics
• Music classes
• Pottery
• Basic cooking
• Arts and Crafts

Support people who have a mental health diagnosis and are deaf or hearing impaired. The service supports clients with a recovery focused approach to help them reach their goals. We offer services from Whangarei to Hamilton. 

Emerge Aotearoa provides support services for clients with mental illness or disabilities to assist with the often difficult transition back into the workplace.

Emerge Aotearoa offers a service known as Creativeworks (in Christchurch) and Worklink (in Wellington)  that is a professional employment service that assists people to find and keep paid employment.  This service is available in Christchurch is free of charge.  

The Creativeworks/Worklink teams offers:

• A private and confidential service
• CV development and interview skills training
•  Help with interpreting employment agreements
• Support to access transition to work assistance
• Ongoing support once you have secured a job. 

Emerge Aotearoa provides a range of community based services which offer flexible and mobile support for people who are living independently, but not necessarily alone, in their community.

These services are for people who require some additional support to remain actively involved with family and whānau, community living, education, employment and self-management of their well being. Clients are supported to determine their own needs and to retain or regain independence in their recovery journey.

Community Support service staff provide assistance, such as accessing appropriate community services, managing household tasks and general daily living activities. Where possible, clients are matched with an age, gender and culturally compatible support worker.

Visits are normally prearranged by mutual agreement between the client and their support worker, however there is some flexibility to allow for unexpected needs.

Alongside this, we also provide ACC – Supported Living Services to those clients requiring assistance with daily living, including those affected by mental health issues, the elderly and dual disability clients.

This service assists people with tasks, such as accessing community activities, social and recreational groups, parenting support, education and employment options, budgeting, and dealing with other agencies.

It is designed to deliver individualised programmes to encourage people to take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives and involves personal planning to meet needs and choices.

The Multi Systemic Therapy Service is a community based programme which:

• Helps families/whānau manage very challenging behaviour such as truancy, drug use, offending, absconding, anti-social behaviour, criminal offending, self harm, non compliance, school refusal and the impact of a young person’s mental health on family dynamics.
• Helps young people attend school and/or work regularly and get along with their families/whānau and peers.
• Provides support in the home, school, neighbourhood or community.
• Provides a therapist who works with the family/whānau for 5 months (20 weeks), meeting at least 2-3 times per week to ensure rapid progress towards changing behaviours.
• Focuses on family/whānau goals.
• Ensures someone from the team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on call.
• Ensures therapists work in supervised teams and provide coverage for all clients.

Multi Systemic Therapy aims to:

• Improve caregiver parenting practices.
• Enhance family/whānau relations.
• Decrease youth alcohol and substance abuse.
• Improve young persons school, job and training opportunities.
• Engage youth in positive recreational outlets.
• Address offending behaviour, reducing the risk of youth entering the justice system, or reducing their risk of further involvement in the justice system.
• Develop a natural support network to maintain changes.

The service will:

• Complete a thorough assessment to give a good understanding of why the challenging behaviours are happening and what factors are helping to maintain them.
• Develop plans in collaboration with family/whānau to address these behaviours and work to help ensure long term change.
• Use a strengths based approach to empower the family/whānau to manage behaviour more effectively.
• Support the family/whānau to try different behaviour management strategies.
• Work to ensure that the family/whānau has good supports within their own communities.
• Consult with schools, courses, alternative education or work places.
• Link with any other key agencies involved to ensure all are working towards the same goals.

Our peer support workers have themselves experienced mental illness and had experience using mental health services, offering a unique understanding of the challenges clients using our services may be facing.  The relationship between a client and their peer support worker can form a key pillar on their recovery journey.

Our peer support services are individualised to each person's needs and helps them to understand and implement their own recovery and to strengthen their involvement in the wider community.

Peer Educators also facilitate programmes of 12 week workshops – Moving Through the Concrete Jungle and PeerZone.  The intention of these workshops is to develop and increase skills for life for people who experience mental distress in peer-led group setting.

The workshops are interactive and promote mental and physical wellbeing from a holistic perspective.  Participants are provided with tools for whole of life wellbeing in a community of mutual support.

Physical and mental health are linked in more ways than many people realise. This means that taking care of one can often make the other much easier to handle.

At Emerge Aotearoa, we work with clients to educate them about the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle, and equip people with the right tools for them to make positive long-term changes in their lives to help them achieve it.

We provide support to our clients that promote wellness, early detection and early intervention to those with mild to moderate mental illness and or alcohol and drug issues.

Services we provide include:

• Assessment
• Treatment using a range of brief, evidence based interventions
• Use of a client-centered, collaborative model of care
• Brokerage with other health and community services
• Seamless transition between services if required
• Education of service users and family/whānau

Emerge Aotearoa provides a number of residential rehabilitation options for clients who require 24-hour rehabilitative support. These services are provided in 'home-like' environments and are accessible to clients who are referred from Regional Rehabilitation Co-ordinators working for community mental health teams within various District Health Boards.

Emerge Aotearoa works collaboratively with clinical teams, clients and other organisations to ensure a safe transition into the services.

A key component of the service is supporting clients accessing services in the wider community. All services are all located in close proximity to shops, public transport and local amenities, and are aimed at clients who require continued support in order to regain independence and develop skills that facilitate independent living.

Intensive Rehabilitation Services

Emerge Aotearoa provides 24-hour high-level care and support to clients with serious mental health issues through its Intensive Rehabilitation Services (ISR).

The criteria for accessing ISR are determined by the contractual obligations we have with local District Health Boards.

Forensic Intensive Rehabilitation Services

Emerge Aotearoa provides 24-hour high-level care and support to clients with serious mental health issues and who have a forensic history.

It can be challenging when someone is experiencing a significant disability, especially if the disability means the person is affected in lots of areas. Many families support their loved ones at home, however, at times this can become overwhelming for all involved. So we offer respite care to provide some support.

Respite care is the provision of community based, short-term, temporary care where the person experiencing the disability may come to stay. This means carers, family/whānau and the person who requires support are all able to have some time away.  

It is designed to provide short-term breaks, and we aim to ensure that the person attending has a positive, stimulating and worthwhile experience.

Emerge Aotearoa provides a number of facilities and options for respite, and those who identify as the person’s primary carer can apply for their stay.

We provide clients with access to supported accommodation in the community, offering a range of both temporary and semi-permanent options.

Alongside this, we also provide ACC Supported Living Services to those clients requiring assistance with daily living, including those affected by mental health issues, the elderly and dual disability clients.

This service assists people with tasks such as accessing community activities, social and recreational groups, parenting support, education and employment options, budgeting, and dealing with other agencies.

It is designed to deliver individualised programmes to encourage people to take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives and involves personal planning to meet needs and choices.

Emerge Aotearoa's Family & Whānau Support services offer support to families who have a loved one facing a mental health challenge.

Our support workers help to bring crucial awareness to families about how they can support their loved one by supplying information about mental illness, the mental health system, community resources and other supports that are available.

We also help families to work through their own dynamics and aid understanding of what a loved one is going through. Often, whānau don't have the right tools to support their loved one, and our Family & Whānau Support services can assist with strategies for coping and making contact with relevant services and support groups.