Engage Aotearoa

Category Archives: Service-user Movement

Update on Cuts to Community Law Centres

July 23, 2012 8:31 am ⋅

Less than two weeks to go!

The Ministry of Justice has said that it will stop consulting with Community Law Centres by 1 August.  That makes the next two weeks a really important time to explain to the Ministry exactly why we need direct specialist legal services.

Here’s what you can do to help:

Come to the “Save Disability Law” public meeting

  • 1pm – 3pm on Monday 30th July 2012
  • Western Springs Community Garden Hall, 956 Great North Road

RSVP by phone 09 257 5140 or email info@adl.org.nz

Venue is wheelchair accessible and NZ Sign Language interpreters have been booked.  Please tell us if you have any other access or dietary requirements.

Please tell your whanau, friends and workmates to come along too.

Check out the media coverage

It’s not too late to sign the open letter to Justice Minister Judith Collins

How to sign:

Email your name to info@adl.org.nz and they will add you as an email signatory to our list.  If your organisation has not yet signed, ask them to support ADL.

If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, please include your logo.

Post it to Auckland Disability Law, PO Box 43 201, Mangere, Auckland

Fax it back to ADL on 09 275 4693 or scan it and email to info@adl.org.nz

Finally, you can print it out and post it directly to Minister of Justice, Judith Collins http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/judith-collins

What else you can do

You can write your own letter to Minister of Justice Judith Collins or to the Minister for Disability Issues, Hon Tariana Turia.

Lobby your local MP, Councillor or Local Board

 

Write to the newspapers, or put out your own press release

Contact ADL for further information

Follow on Facebook

Search and click the ‘like’ button on the Auckland Disability Law Facebook page

Huge thanks to the more than one hundred individuals and all these groups and organisations that have signed so far:

  • Altus Enterprises
  • Auckland Action Against Poverty
  • Auckland Branch of the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand
  • Auckland Disability Providers network
  • CCS Disability Action
  • Chair, Homeworks Trust
  • Citizens Against Privatisation
  • Community Law Canterbury
  • DPA Dunedin
  • DSAG Disability Strategic Advisory Group – Auckland Council
  • Employment Dispute Solutions
  • Engage Aotearoa
  • Green Party of New Zealand
  • Justice Action Group
  • Kaitaia Community House
  • Mana Tangata Turi O Aotearoa
  • Mangere Community Law Centre
  • National Secretary behal of New Zealand Public Serrvices Association
  • Niu Ola Trust
  • People First
  • PHAB Pasifika
  • PSA Deaf and Disabled Members
  • Pukenga Consultancy
  • Rotorua District Community Law Centre
  • Service and Food Workers Union
  • Socialist Aotearoa
  • Tamaki Ngati Kapo inc
  • Taranaki Community Law
  • Te Roopu Waiora Trust
  • The Asian Network Inc.
  • The Auckland Deaf Christian Fellowship
  • Unite Union
  • Youthlaw

Previous media coverage:

 

Further Information

If you require any further information or you are able to help the campaign in any way, please contact us:

Nicola Owen

Development Manager

Auckland Disability Law

 

Posted in: Community Participation, Disability Issues, Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Engage Group Now FREE!!! Starts 3 October 2012

July 22, 2012 7:25 am ⋅

Youthline and Community Mental-Health Resources Trust are pleased to announce enrolments for Engage Group are now open for 2012 and participation is entirely free.

Spaces are limited to 8 participants – first in, first served.

Find the full information pack and eligibility criteria online here or phone Youthline for further information.

Posted in: Engage Updates, Personal Development Tools, Service-User Movement, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Auckland Disability Law Still Needs YOU

July 13, 2012 3:15 am ⋅

Public Launch of Open Letter

The Public Launch of Auckland Disability Law’s open letter to Minister Judith Collins held on Thursday 5th July 2012 at Trades Hall was a positive success.

A crowd of over 30 people attended.  Many of them signed as individuals and on behalf of their organisations.

As a result of this hui, the Herald featured a story about disability law, featuring Steering Group Chair Person, Martine Abel,

Click link below for the article

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10817730

You can also listen to Nicola being interviewed on Checkpoint last week: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2524294/auckland-disability-law-fights-against-closure

A week ago, Auckland Disability Law released and launched their campaign, Save Disability Law.

Since the launch, over 100 individuals have signed up to support Disability Law, and we have received support from these organisations (in alphabetical order):

  • Auckland Action Against Poverty
  • CCS Disability Action
  • DPA Dunedin
  • Green Party of New Zealand
  • Homeworks Trust
  • Kaitaia Community House
  • National Secretary on behalf of New Zealand Public Services Association (PSA)
  • People First
  • PSA Deaf and Disabled Members Network
  • Pukenga Consultancy
  • Service and Food Workers Union SFWU
  • Tamaki Ngati Kapo Inc
  • Te Roopu Waiora Trust
  • The Asian Network Inc.
  • Unite union
  • Youthlaw

It’s not too late to sign!

How to sign

Email your name to info@adl.org.nz and they will add you as an email signatory to our list.

If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, be sure to include your logo.

If your organisation has not yet signed, ask them if they would like to support the cause.

You can also save and print a copy of the Open Letter yourself and send it directly to Minister of Justice Judith Collins http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/judith-collins

What else you can do

You can write your own letter to Minister of Justice Judith Collins.

You can lobby, write to or talk to your Local MP.  Click link for list of MPs http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/ Don’t forget to let Auckland Disability Law know how your communications with them were received.

Write to the newspapers, or put out your own press release

Contact Auckland Disability Law for further information

Follow on Facebook

Search and click the ‘like’ button on the Auckland Disability Law Facebook page

Come to the “Save Disability Law” public meeting

  • Monday 30th July 2012
  • Time 1pm – 3pm
  • Western Springs Community Garden Hall, 956 Great North Road, Western Springs, Auckland

Further Information

If you require any further information or you are able to help the campaign in any way, please contact us:

Nicola Owen, Development Manager, Auckland Disability Law

Posted in: Accessibility / Transport, Community Participation, Human Rights and Legal Issues, People with Disabilities, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Ministry of Justice Proposes Cutting Disability Law Services

July 7, 2012 1:49 am ⋅

Help Save Disability Law

The Ministry of Justice is proposing to withdraw funding for direct specialist legal services for the disability community from June 2013.

This will mean that there will no longer be a community law centre specialising in the complex legal needs of disabled people.  There will be no Auckland Disability Law.

Auckland Disability Law is calling for the Ministry of Justice to rethink this proposal.

At Engage Aotearoa, we think there should be specialist disability law services available to disabled people throughout New Zealand, including Auckland Disability Law. We frequently refer people to this service.

Your Help is Needed!

Key Things You Can Do:

Sign the Open Letter to Judith Collins, the Minister of Justice as an individual or on behalf of your organisation (attached (right click the link to save the document) and available on Auckland Disability Law’s Facebook page or by email from info@adl.org.nz).  Email to sign the letter and send your organisation’s logo.

Come to the “Save Disability Law” Community Hui

Send a message to the government that we are serious about saving disability law through the continued funding of Auckland Disability Law and extending specialist legal services nationally for disabled people.

  • When:  Monday 30th July 2012, 1pm till 3pm
  • Where:   Western Springs Garden Community Hall, 956 Great North Road
  • Invited speakers: Mojo Mathers, Sue Bradford, Clive Lansink

Other Things That You Can Do to Help

Write your own letter to Justice Minister Judith Collins

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/judith-collins

Write to the newspapers, or put out your own press release

Contact Auckland Disability Law for further information

Follow Auckland Disability Law on Facebook

Search and click the ‘like’ button on the Auckland Disability Law Facebook page

Further Information

If you require any further information or you are able to help the campaign in any way, please contact, Auckland Disability Law:

Nicola Owen, Development Manager, Auckland Disability Law

Posted in: Accessibility / Transport, Addiction/Substance Abuse, Community Participation, Disability Issues, Families/Whanau, Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Mental health promotion and prevention services to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex populations in New Zealand: Needs assessment report

June 15, 2012 5:11 am ⋅

Te Pou has released a report on the results of an assessment of the mental-health promotion and prevention needs of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex.

You can read a summary and download the full report here.

Posted in: News, Online Resources, Professional Development, Rainbow / LGBTQI+ Community, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Blueprint II Launched 13 June 2012

June 15, 2012 4:59 am ⋅

Launch of Blueprint II

Blueprint II was to be launched at Parliament on 13 June 2012. Blueprint II is a ten year plan to make sure that future users of mental health and addiction services, their families and whānau are getting the services they need, when they need them and where they need them.

It has been developed by the Mental Health Commission in close consultation with the wider mental health and addiction sector. The implementation of Blueprint II will be monitored by the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Posted in: Addiction/Substance Abuse, Disability Issues, Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, People with Disabilities, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Study Looks at Experiences with Antidepressants in NZ

June 15, 2012 4:27 am ⋅

Have your say on your experience of taking antidepressants

Have you been prescribed an antidepressant in the past five years?

A team of university researchers is keen to see what you have to say about a number of things related to your experiences with these types of medications.

The researchers, from The University of Auckland’s Department of Psychology, are for the first time surveying New Zealanders on their antidepressant use.

Anyone who has been prescribed antidepressant medication in the last five years is eligible to take part in the survey, even if they are no longer taking them. And, if you have been prescribed antidepressants but decided not to take them, you are also encouraged to take part.

The research team hopes that at least 1,000 people will take part in the anonymous online survey, which they have called: Views and Experiences of Antidepressants in New Zealand

A parallel survey of GPs is being conducted by a PhD student associated with the research team, seeking doctors’ views about depression and antidepressants.

Posted in: Community Participation, Research, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

100 Coping Strategies in The Coping Kete

June 9, 2012 4:39 am ⋅

The Coping Kete on the Engage Aotearoa website reached a milestone on the 9th of June with the publication of the One Hundredth Weekly Coping Strategy in the online kete.

Use The Coping Kete to learn new strategies online and then add them to your Personal Coping Kete for use when the going gets tough.

Engage Aotearoa have been posting a new strategy every week for the past 100 weeks. That’s nearly two years worth of new coping strategies for people who are wanting to improve their mental health and wellbeing. There are still many more to come.

Also on the horizons is The Coping Kete Handbook, a paperback collection of the first 100 strategies with some extra background information and reflection exercises.

 

Posted in: Engage Updates, Online Resources, Personal Development Tools, Service-User Movement, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Chatters Newsletter for May-June 2012

June 9, 2012 3:52 am ⋅

The latest newsletter from Crossroads Clubhouse is out.

Click here to read a copy. 

Posted in: Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Power Relations in Communication Reading Resource

June 9, 2012 3:34 am ⋅

Ruth De Souza recently had a chapter on Power Relations published in a book called Communication Across the Lifespan. She very kindly emailed this out amongst the community, as it is valuable reading for any mental-health or health practitioner.

“Introduction

Many practitioners see themselves as apolitical and powerless, particularly with regard to their relationships with the structures of medicine and management. However, in reality practitioners are powerful both as individuals and as members of the groups with which they identify. The structures and cultures within which most health and disability practitioners exist and work are based on beliefs and practices that constrain autonomy. These constraints are at work through a number of mechanisms, such as the market, the infusion of targets and performance measures and quality programmes (Newman & Vidler, 2006). In addition, the changing role of consumers or service users from passive recipients of care in the past to people who may be informed, empowered, articulate and ‘demanding’ poses a threat to the ‘knowledge–power knot’ on which professional power rests.

When practitioners view themselves as people who are doing good, they tend to lack awareness of their complicity and embeddedness in relations of power that structure inequality. Yet, power is embedded in everyday practices and interactions (Bradbury Jones, Sambrook & Irvine, 2008). Practitioners within the wider health and disability sectors contribute to social regulation through their roles as employees of the state. They enact government policies for the benefit of the health of the citizens of the state; so they are both governed and governing. Members of recognised professional groups are provided with a moral authority by their capacity to define problems and pose solutions, and their role in defining and evaluating good or normal behaviour and health practices through surveillance of the population and the criteria for interventions on behalf of the state (Gilbert, 2001, p. 201).

These ambivalent relationships with power that are evident among health professionals require exploration. This can be done by considering the various ways in which power is conceptualised and the micro and macro definitions of empowerment. Some shifts in power have occurred in the last few decades, largely influenced by various social movements. Maternity and mental health are two particular examples of professional practice and service delivery in which power can be recognised and ideas of empowerment can be translated meaningful engagement between service delivery and those who engage with the service.”

Click here to read the full chapter.

Ruth DeSouza, Senior Lecturer (Wed/Thurs and Fri am), Division of Health Care Practice, AUT University, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142

Posted in: Online Resources, Professional Development, Research, Service-User Movement ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,