Conference on traditional mental health practices

Friday, February 27, 2009

Indigenous leaders to discuss traditional practices in mental health

A conference involving indigenous leaders in mental health from New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States will be held at the Manawatu campus from Sunday.

Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Mäori and Pasifika) Professor Mason Durie will co-host the event in partnership with the North American based International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership.

On Sunday afternoon, there will be a pöwhiri at Te Kupenga o te Mätauranga marae at the Hokowhitu site. Professor Durie will outline the developments in Mäori mental health over the past 25 years, including the substantial growth in the Mäori mental health workforce and the emergence of community-based Mäori health providers.

Professor Durie says the purpose of the meeting, which begins in earnest on Monday, is twofold. “First it is to offer an opportunity for collaboration between indigenous leaders and researchers with a view to establishing ongoing partnerships. The second objective is to discuss and review the potential adaptability of a model of cultural competency developed by Dr Spero Mason of the University of Colorado and his colleagues in Alaska and the use of evidence to support and identify traditional practices that are effective.”

Other topics to be discussed include mental health outcome measurements, indigenous mental health workforce development, leadership skills for indigenous based services, and primary care mental health programmes for early intervention.

Overseas indigenous leaders attending the exchange will be joined by New Zealand specialists Dr Rees Tapsell from Auckland University, Ray Watson from the Mental Health Commission, Kirsty Maxwell-Crawford from Mäori mental health workforce development organisation Te Rau Matatini, and Dr Te Kani Kingi from Massey.

The exchange and conference is being run as part of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leaders that operates under the umbrella of Mental Health Corporations of America established in 2003. The organisation has over 1500 members and provides an international infrastructure to identify and exchange information about effective leadership, management and operational practices in the delivery of mental health services, it encourages the development of organisational and management best practice within mental health services through collaborative and innovative arrangements among mental health leaders.

ENDS