Working together #CollaborACTION

Collaboration is about working with others to achieve a common purpose. We are so proud to collaborate with groups where we have meaningful actions and productive outcomes for our Pasifika communities. This is what we call collaborACTION.

We are honoured to be funded by the Ministry of Health and working in collaborACTION with national workforce centres Te Pou (mental health), Matua Raki (addictions), Te Rau Matatini (Maori mental health and suicide prevention) and The Werry Centre (child and adolescent mental health).

CollaborACTION shows us that we can achieve so much more working with others than working alone.

Other important partners we work with are DHBs, PHOs, NGOs, professional health groups, and local councils, sports clubs and community groups.

We are honoured to uphold formal agreements with the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner, the Ministry of Education in Auckland and, internationally, with the National Suicide Prevention Committee Tonga and National Rugby League (NRL) Australia. Le Va partners with Te Pou and Matua Raki to provide clinical advisory and cultural perspectives, as well as contributing to many significant projects across all the workforce centres. 

Le Va’s CollaborACTION results for July 2014 to June 2015 included:

• refreshing the Real Skills plus Seitapu framework to ensure relevance and consistency of Pasifika competencies across sectors – ensuring alignment with all approved competency frameworks
• ensuring an informed workforce that knows how to work at the top of its scope of practice (Scope it right) 
• informing evidence-based workforce planning through the More Than Numbers workforce stocktake
• developing a whānau ora workforce approach applicable for Pasifika
• progressing Talking Therapies so that evidence-based psychological therapies are delivered within a well-functioning, stepped-care service model appropriate for Pasifika
• developing tools for frontline workers to better assess Pasifika people with Co-existing Problems (CEP) in mental illness and substance abuse
• developing guidelines for services working with Children Of Parents with Mental Illness (COPMIA)
• developing a manager’s supervision toolkit
• improving the physical health status of Pasifika people who experience mental health and/or addiction issues by supporting and promoting Equally Well initiatives
• Engaging Pasifika e-learning modules have been prioritised by Counties-Manukau and Auckland District Health Boards which have made them available across many of their services to enhance cultural responsiveness 
• partnering with the University of Auckland, supported by Harvard University, to develop evidence-based practice for therapies in child and adolescent mental health services in New Zealand’s first randomised control trial of this kind
• partnering with Te Rau Matatini to deliver New Zealand’s only national Māori and Pasifika suicide prevention programme: Waka Hourua
• becoming the ‘go to’ for Pasifika wellbeing support, contributing to many projects that enhance cultural responsiveness and ensuring cultural and clinical safety for Pasifika communities, such as Clinical Advisory Services Aotearoa (CASA), The Mental Health Foundation, the lowdown.co.nz, Taha Well Pacific Mother and Infant Service, and many sports clubs and churches
• our role as a member of the Health Workforce New Zealand (HWNZ) Pacific Steering Group and contributing to national Pacific health workforce development initiatives.  Le Va is also a member of the HWNZ Allied Health and Technical Taskforce group.