About us
Creating space for Pacific wellbeing
Le Va, Pasifika within Te Pou, is proud to be valued as New Zealand’s national hub for Pasifika mental health and addiction workforce development, as well as national coordination for the disability support services sector. We play a role in translating policy into practice for all three sectors at a national level, meeting local needs. A major focus is enhancing the responsiveness of mainstream services to better meet the needs of our Pasifika communities. Our vision is clear - vibrant Pacific leadership and well Pacific families.
Our purpose is to enhance the quality of services for Pacific peoples and their families.
Our approach is holistic: we believe health encompasses mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing. Our portfolio supports this perspective, encompassing workforce development across mental health, disability and general health.
Part of the Wise Group
Le Va is the Pasifika workforce development programme within Te Pou, which is a national mental health and addiction workforce development centre. Our trading name is Te Pou and our legal identity is Mental Health Programmes Ltd.
Te Pou has a number of funding sources including the Ministry of Health, Health Workforce New Zealand, non-government organisations, district health boards and the education sector.
We are also part of the Wise Group family – one of the largest providers of non-government services in New Zealand. The Group has more than 20 years’ experience in working to improve the lives of people who experience mental illness, and shares a common purpose; creating fresh possibilities and services for the wellbeing of people, organisations and communities.
The Group’s work is highly diverse and includes business services, community services, workforce development, education, employment and technology. Wise’s wholly owned charitable company, Wise Management Services, provides a suite of infrastructure services for Te Pou.
For more information, visit the Wise Group website.
Where relationships exist, anything is possible
The concept of Va refers to the “space between”. It is fundamentally different from western notions of space defined by open areas, expanses or distances that separate. Va refers to the space that relates, and to the context connected to the individual. It refers to relationships that are collective.
To maintain Va is to respect and maintain the sacred space, harmony and balance within relationships. There is a collective responsibility for all people to nurture the Va between each other. Maintaining Va is about maintaining respectful and strong relationships that result in a healthy person, organisation, community and society.
With regard to health, Va captures the holistic Pacific worldview of the important relationships between our physical, spiritual, psychological, social, economic and cultural dimensions that underpin a healthy community.
Vital to Le Va are the relationships cultivated between people - including Aotearoa/New Zealand-born Pacific people, non-Pacific people, tangata whaiora and service users, their families and health workers - and the unique relationship with te tangata whenua o Aotearoa.
Our signature presentation
Pacific naming policy
Le Va is committed to the creation of a strong Pacific presence within the sector, both nationally and internationally. This is the reason why many of our key projects and programmes of work have been given Pacific names.
The policy and process for naming initiatives and programmes with a Pacific name must involve consultation with key leaders and groups within the Pacific community, including the Matua Council of Waitemata DHB and Le Va's own Pacific Reference Group which has been given a Tokelauan name Le Leo o Le Va - or the voice of Le Va.
Appropriate and relevant names are chosen from amongst the main Pacific ethnic languages. A robust process is undertaken to ensure that the words selected are not derogatory, rude or have any negative connotations - not just for the Pacific ethnic group that it comes from but also for the others.
If there are any Pacific phrases or words that you would like to present for Le Va to add to our pool, or if you have any specific feedback on the names and terms we have used, please feel free to email Manase Lua.
