We are currently in the important stage of mahi (work) to develop the methods and measures for how we will monitor and assess the mental health and addiction system. Phase 1 of this work was completed at the end of 2022, and mahi will continue for measures where data does not exist or are not readily available.
We have established a Technical Advisory Network (TAN) to provide advice and expertise of methods, measures, data sources and data gaps. This technical advisory network has a diverse membership that covers the broad scope of He Ara Āwhina, priority groups, and experience of both methods and measures (qualitative and quantitative).
Sharon is recognised as a leader in the field of health sector strategy and outcomes framework development and is an expert in Results Based Accountability. Sharon has led the design and implementation of outcome frameworks in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally for over a decade. Sharon has held multiple roles focused on Māori health and oranga improvement, including chairing the Māori Expert Advisory Group for the Health and Disability Systems Review which set up the current health sector reforms. Currently, she is a board member of Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority). Sharon also chaired the Expert Advisory Group for the He Ara Oranga wellbeing outcomes framework, which frames the system design work via He Ara Āwhina.
Ben brings 20 years of experience in the alcohol and other drugs field. He is currently Deputy Executive Director, Programmes at the NZ Drug Foundation. He also is Chair of the Board of Addiction Practitioners Association Aotearoa New Zealand (DAPAANZ) and works as a contractor and supervisor for youth health and addiction. He is also a clinical governance group member for Te Puna Manawa.
LJ was born and bred in Ōtepoti with his siblings Te Reo, Brandon and Tamara. He has been involved in the Ōtepoti hāpori and has worked in Community Development and advocacy, locally and nationally, with vast experience in Social Services, Mental Health and Addictions and Disability.
His current role is as a Consumer Engagement Advisor, Pacific, within He Hoa Tiaki | Partners in Care at Kupu Taurangi Hauora o Aotearoa | Health Quality and Safety Commission.LJ Was the Secretary for Te Waipounamu Māori Rugby Board for their most successful years. An incumbent Board member of the Dunedin Night Shelter Trust, Mana Pasefika (a National Pacific DPO for Mental Health Addictions & Disability) and THETA (Theatre in Health Education Trust) that delivers the National Sexwise programme in schools.
He has been heavily involved in the Three Papa Tipu Rūnaka in Ōtākou as well as the Pacific Communities from Canterbury to Invercargill with a fierce passion for social justice, support and advocacy for the community.
Suaree (Ngāti Ranginui, Maniapoto, and Samoan) has 15 years of experience as an independent kaupapa Māori research and evaluation consultant. She is currently Managing Director of Awa Associates and continues to promote matauranga Māori informed dimensions of merit across all components of service development (from procurement, service content, design and delivery). She also is Deputy Chair of the Ngāti Ranginui Iwi Society Incorporated and works as a contractor to various evaluation projects across Māori Public health. She has 10 mokopuna from her 8 siblings and works to ensure future descendants can pursue dreams, conquer challenges and navigate to new islands on their horizon.
Kerri (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Pākehā) is a Māori national lived experience leader. She has worked in kaupapa Māori, NGO, DHB and government organisations in the Mental Health and Addiction sector for the past 15 years. Kerri is passionate in her commitment to ensuring that health outcomes should be determined and defined by those most impacted. This led to her establishing Take Notice in 2014 as an independent vehicle to elevate the kōrero and aspirations of lived experience whānau across the motu.
Ciaran has over 25 years’ experience in health promotion, activism and community engagement working with young people, the creative sector and mental health promotion. He has been with the Mental Health Foundation since 2008 and contributed to the multi-disciplinary team that developed the world leading post-disaster mental wellbeing campaign All Right? following the Canterbury earthquakes. He is a member of the global working group on mental health promotion for the International Union of Health Promotion & Education (IUHPE) and the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL).
Nick (Ngāti Maniapoto) is an Associate Professor in applied biostatistics and social epidemiology at AUT. He has over 28 years of experience in health research at ESR and AUT. He collaborates on many health and environmental research projects across a wide range of topics including mental health, mate wareware, older adult health and wellbeing, gambling and addictions, tobacco control, physical activity, Māori, Pacific and minority health, health services, paramedicine, and midwifery. He also provides support and mentoring for researchers and postgraduate students in research design, data management and sovereignty, data analysis, visualisation, presentation and interpretation of analytical results.
Te Kani is Senior Analyst at the Department of Corrections, having previously been the Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi. He has a specialist interest in health outcome measurement (psychometrics), Māori mental health, longitudinal research, public health and health service delivery. He is currently leading a research project funded by the Vic Davis Memorial Trust, which investigates the mental health expectations of Eastern Bay of Plenty youth. He was born and raised in Poroporo near Whakatāne and educated at St Stephen’s School in Bombay. Te Kani has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Awa, and Ngai Tai.
Amanda is currently Lived Experience Project Lead at Te Pou. Amanda brings her experience from 15 years working in mental health, across both the NGO and government sectors. She has worked in many lived experience workforce roles including peer support worker, consumer advisor and peer supervisor. In her time working for the Ministry of Health she developed a focus on the mental health and addiction workforce, a focus that continues into her current work.
Leilani is currently the Pouwhakahaere, Te Kete Pounamu National Organisation of Māori With Lived Experience. Leilani brings lived experience and experience as the Manukura (CE) for Mana o te Tangata Trust, a Kaupapa Māori Mental Health and Addiction Peer Support Service in the MidCentral region. She is a strong advocate for inclusion and ensuring the voices of tangata whaiora (people with lived experience of mental health or addiction or both) and their whānau are being heard.
Hope is a senior analyst at Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa. She has been working in the Mental Health and Addiction service information / data and digital space for 13 years. Hope is the Chair of the national district stakeholder forum for the Programme for the Integration for Mental Health Data (PRIMHD). She is passionate about ensuring we have good information to ensure we make the best decisions possible for all New Zealanders.
Marcelus (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi te Rangi, Whakatōhea, Te Ātihau nui-a-Pāpārangi, and Te Iwi Mōrehu descent) brings over 15 years of health sector experience in a range of national-level roles. This spans programme and project management, service design and commissioning, senior advisory and audit. Marcelus was raised on her Marae in Rātana with Te Reo Māori as her first language and is passionate about ensuring the aspirations of whānau Māori, hapū, and Iwi are reflected in the design, delivery and accountabilities of health services they receive. Marcelus is currently the National Programme Manager – Mental Health Specialist Services at Te Whatu Ora, having recently returned from a secondment in Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority) as the Programme Lead – Planning and Performance, Oranga Hinengaro (Mental Health and Addiction).
Ross is currently Business Operations Manager, Pathways. He has worked as a clinician, manager, and sector leader for over twenty years in the mental health and addiction sector. Ross is the Chair of the MHAKPI programme and is a representative on many sector advisory and reference groups.
Sheridan first sought help from an addiction service in the 1980s and has been engaged in the sector ever since as a client and / or as consumer advisor at Community Alcohol and Drug Services Auckland where she supports a team of consumer advisors and peer support specialists. Sheridan chairs the Addiction Consumer Leadership Group at Te Pou, which is committed to building and supporting the consumer, peer and lived experience workforce and is an active member in the National Association of Opioid Treatment Providers forum.
Lynne (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Kāi Tahu) works as a Kairangahau Matua – Hauora Māori (Senior Research Fellow Māori Health) with Te Hikuwai Rangahau Hauora - Health Services Research Centre at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Much of her professional and academic work has centred around the Indigenous knowledge and healing practices used in recovery from trauma associated with mental distress, suicide loss and self-harm. She describes herself as a writer, activist and public speaker stirred by cultural resilience, social justice, Indigenous and LGBTI rights, and the amplification of voices more readily silenced in society.
Dr Jordan Waiti (Ngāti Pikiao, Te Rarawa, Ngaati Maahanga) has been involved in Māori health and wellbeing for 18 years, both as a researcher and practitioner. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health at the University of Waikato. Previously he worked for Te Hiringa Hauora and The Eru Pomare Māori Health Research Centre. He is currently on Te Taumata for the Suicide Prevention Office and recently completed his term on the Governance Board for Dietitians NZ.
I am a qualified social worker and have over 20 years’ experience working in various mental health and addiction settings, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas. I have worked in clinical leadership and management roles in both district health boards and NGO’s. My current role at Te Pou is the national manager for the Data, Information and Research team. I guide the process of ensuring that all work at Te Pou is grounded in evidence, and that mental health and addiction information is accessible to a range of diverse stakeholder groups to inform service design and workforce planning.
Craig is currently a Principal Data Scientist at the Social Wellbeing Agency. He has worked in public service analytics for the last 20 years. Most recently he has been developing methods in the IDI to estimate unmet need for mental health and addiction services by socio-demography, geography and within vulnerable populations. An additional area of this work is estimation of non-response bias in social surveys for people with serious mental health and addiction need, and the extent to which their outcomes are not adequately represented.
