Te Whare Mahana Trust

Following an assessment, a case manager is appointed. Together the client and the case manager will devise an individual treatment plan. Support is offered to the client according to individual needs and may be on a short or long term basis.

Community Mental Health Service provides a 24 hour, 7 days per week on call emergency psychiatric response and support. This service helps clients link to other services as required and provides support for the consumer and their family/whanau in crisis.

Community Mental Health Service works in collaboration with the local medical centre and police services as required.

To receive home based support, a client must first be assessed by a Service Coordination (NASC) agency and given a ‘Needs Assessment’.   A Needs Assessment will determine if a client is entitled to extra support towards developing independent living skills and social competence in a community setting.

Support workers spend an agreed number of hours in a person’s home providing personal support and household management services. The number of hours and type of tasks to be done by the support worker is identified during a needs assessment.

Support is usually provided on a one to one basis to assist with personal support and household management. This may mean supporting a person to do the task themselves or doing the task for them if they are unable to.

In conjunction with the Golden bay Community Workers and Womens Refuge, the Community Mental Health Service offers short term respite accommodation for our consumers and other service providers.

Community Mental Health Service also has links with Kotuku (a consumer run organisation), which offers respite accommodation in Upper Moutere. Clients can be referred by our service or refer themselves.

The Peer Support and Advocacy Worker facilitates peer support groups based on client need and interest and supports service users/tangata whaiora in relationship building that may enhance personal and social skills in community settings by providing access to community recreational, employment and vocational services. In addition the person in this role can be a support person at appointments with doctors, lawyers, government agencies, care managers, and at home and hospital assessments as well as providing information on services available. An important service is assisting service users/tangata whaiora to understand the choices open to them so that they can make informed decisions about their own care as well as providing information to enable service users/tangata whaiora to make an informed decision about how to proceed with issues.

Visit our Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/Golden-Bay-Peer-Support-for-Mental-Wellbeing-1665690557002778/

Te Whare Mahana Employment Services work in partnership with each client to provide tailored vocational planning and support with the ultimate aim of finding pathways into employment. Our range of services includes a supported employment business known as Helping Hands that assists people to regain a work routine in preparation for a return to mainstream employment.

Te Whare Mahana offers New Zealand’s only national residential Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) programme. Situated in Golden Bay, Nelson Tasman, this internationally renowned programme is for people experiencing frequent high levels of distress and have had little success from hospital and community treatments.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is an intensive behavioural treatment approach, helping people work through complex histories and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and learn new skills for managing relationships and coping with distress. The well-established treatment model was developed by American psychologist Marsha M. Linehan as a better way of treating people with Borderline Personality Disorder and chronic self-harm/suicidal behaviours. DBT is now routinely used to treat a wide range of different and co-occurring mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.

DBT emphasises the learning and refinement of skills to help regulate emotions, change thinking patterns associated with problems in daily living and reduce misery and distress. DBT incorporates the acquisition of skills to assist residents to improve interpersonal effectiveness and their quality of life.

Visit the Te Whare Mahana Trust website for more information.