New mental health alliance to drive cost benefits

Media Release

7 July 2009

New mental health alliance to drive cost benefits and innovation

Community based mental health services from throughout New Zealand have joined forces to bring together their collective expertise to share resources and ideas, minimize duplication and maximize their effectiveness.

ARC (act regionally and collaborate nationally) Group members are Walsh Trust (West Auckland), Wellink Trust (Wellington), Comcare (Christchurch) and Pact (Otago/Southland). They have agreed to work together in order to achieve critical mass in key areas, while retaining their own community identities.

ARC Group will be launched at a function in Wellington on 8 July 2009 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Wellink Trust.

Wellink Chief Executive Virginia MacEwan says the ARC collaboration offers the best of both worlds for members. “We get key benefits such as enhanced administrative capacity from being part of a larger group while still being grounded in our own communities, where recovery occurs and is sustained.”

ARC members are committed to the reform of New Zealand’s mental health services. They believe that while traditional mental health care approaches play a key role in the sector, the future lies in improving the capacity and capability of community-based support services and each community.

Virginia MacEwan says community based services have proved their worth over the past 20 years, making a strong contribution at the front line of mental health. Yet right now the sector faces real challenges in terms of strategic development, funding models and dominance of traditional approaches to service delivery.

“Despite these constraints, while DHB providers grapple with soaring deficits, NGOs continue to deliver and innovate within their budgets. NGOs providing mental health support services have become synonymous in New Zealand with low cost, high volume, service delivery.”

ARC welcomes the Government’s current focus on resourcing the front line because members pride themselves on understanding and responding to real need in their communities, she says.

“We are cost effective and often highly innovative. Collectively we employ 600 professional staff supported by skilled managers and administrative teams, providing services to around 3500 people each year.

“This happens in communities, not in hospitals, while social inclusion of people who use our services, and of the services themselves, is a fundamental principle of our work.

“We are collectively committed to building on this reality. By opening our organizations to exchange ideas and learn together we are creating a powerful mechanism for delivering outstanding community based mental health services, refinement of evidence-based practice and development of a high quality, dedicated and capable workforce.”

ENDS

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