Maori Specialty Mental Health Services
On Tuesday I was able to return to Maori Specialty Mental Health Services where I sat in on the Multi-Disciplinary Team. They began with the traditional karakia, which is like a prayer-combo-blessing, and then the team consultant psychiatrist, Dr Allister Bush, lead an exercise with guitar playing and a song that all joined in on. Then he lead a mindfulness exercise for "a safe place"with guided imagery for relaxation. Then the regular clinical business was attended to. The meeting concluded with a karakia as well. Outside of this meeting I was fortunate to have several conversations regarding the work this team does. Tua also explained to me the meaning of the word and reference to "marae", after I asked him about its modern use vs it's traditional use. The word is a construction of two words: 'ma' being the word for pure, and 'rae' being the word for forehead. So the Maori significance of marae is its implication for pure thought, as a concept that involves the environment as you approach the meeting/ spirit house. Tua made the point to say that the environmental awareness would be a comprehensive involvement that begins with the earth below, the life within and the sky and heavens above, all calling for pure thought that leads to right action. Marae is often used today in terms of a collective reference to all the buildings and grounds of a spiritual center for a Maori community/ iwi.
Today, Thursday April 19 at 4:15 Te Whare Marie held a memorial service for Tua Hekenui, eldest son, father, husband, Cultural Therapist for Maori Specialty Mental Health Services, student of his Maori culture and history, who died quite suddenly. I will miss his warm welcome and generous sharing of his knowledge of spiritual wellness. He greeted me just last week with the hongi, and he made a point to share the breath of life with me in earnest and with a great smile that followed. I am thankful for having been able to meet and know him enough to know him as a friend. He liked to sing and often sung while preparing himself for the staff meeting. I learned of his memorial service too late to be able to attend. It is in fact happening as I write this. I first met Tua the day I turned 55, Monday March 5th, my initial welcome into the marae at Te Whare Marie. He was very kind to me and I will remember him well.
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| Tua Hekenui |
Vincents Art Workshop
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| Antoinette, artist/tutor at Vincents Art Workshop |
I made my way to Vincents Art Workshop (
www.vincentsartworkshop.co.nz )on Wednesday, where I was able to sit and just observe for a couple of hours before I let on who I was and why I was there. That's when I met Antoinette Ratcliffe, (
www.the-sick-bay.com ) installation artist and fill-in tutor at Vincents. She is seen above with the art work of one of the members just going up for a one man show. The environment of Vincents is very welcoming, bright and colorful. There is a great deal of artists' work all about, on the walls and ceilings, in cubbies, draws and shelves. Vincents differs from the prior two art/ creative space programs I had visited earlier by the fact that Vincents does not restrict members to those with experience of mental illness. Vincents is welcoming to any community people who want to experience a welcoming creative/ art space. I saw this in full effect when a mother brought her two young children in to make some art work. She had brought her children before, and this is a week that schools were out so it was a natural choice for this mom to spend some time at Vincents. There were over a dozen members who came in to work on their art while I was there. There were also two tutors present while I waited for the program coordinator to arrive from a community meeting.
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| Andrew, artist/tutor at Vincents |
Below is Glen, Vincents coordinator who leads this community asset with a passion and a great understanding for the value of inclusiveness when it comes to welcoming everyone for creative expression. Vincents has a gallery central to its space where they feature a lot of the work done by its members. Once a week they provide a structured workshop and they reach out to the forensic and in-patient population regularly as well. They keep Thursday each week just for women to attend. Although the life drawing that is hosted here on Tuesday and Thursday evenings is open to all. I was lucky to be able to attend the Thursday evening life drawing. The model was very skilled and the group of a dozen artists were quite focused, and comfortable with a new face in the group.
Vincent's just celebrated their 25th anniversary. They have a large number of awards that adorn the walls along with the art. Glen helped me connect with Art Access New Zealand that works with the 85 creative art space programs across new Zealand.
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| Glen McDonald, program Coordinator and heart of the program at Vincents |
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| Friends of Vincents |
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| The main workshop art space |
Blueprint
Sally granted me a visit last week so I could sit with her and find out more about her program Blueprint (
www.blueprint.co.nz ), one of the nine organizations in the WiseGroup Collective. You may remember that Pathways was another NGO that I visited a few weeks earlier from the WiseGroup. Blueprint specializes as the educational training arm of WiseGroup. Innovative trainings for leadership within the mental health services nationally as well as for many community based groups like police, fire fighters, educators, and government leaders. The principle training for these community services is MH101, a program funded by the Ministry of Health for New Zealand. It is a collaboration that involved The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; ProCARE; The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and the Kites Trust. The three principles of MH101 is Recognize, Relate, and Respond. (
www.MH101.co.nz )
Sally pointed out to me that Blueprint, like each of the other WiseGroup organizations subscribe to the principles of Sustainable Peak Performance, a business model based in core values that highlight ownership by everyone in the organization, and innovative practices, notably used by Toyota, and Proctor and Gamble. One of the consequences of this business model for WiseGroup is that they screen new hires based on compatible values driven work that focuses on innovation and wellness. New Zealand, and the Wellington area in particular, has been struggling with a drawn out economic recession much like the USA, and Blueprint sees its future is advantaged by the fact that it has this very strong values based core to its operational strategies and the fact that it is a part of a much larger group that allows it to stay focused on what it does best while the other groups provide certain efficiencies: i.e., Wild Bamboo, (
www.wildbamboo.co.nz )another group member that develops specific computer software to meet their needs and the needs of the other group members like Te Pou, (
www.tepou.co.nz ) the group dedicated to researching mental health and related issues like employment for the disabled. From my very limited perspective this does indeed appear to be a very smart approach that advantages each group member organization within WiseGroup.
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| Sally Pitts-Brown, CEO for Blueprint, integral organization within WiseGroup |
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