Category Archives: People With Disabilities
Mike King Korero Goes to Kawakawa 7 May 2013
Engage Aotearoa and Key to Life Charitable Trust will be taking the Mike King Korero to Kawakawa on the 7th of May for two sessions at Bay of Islands College. In the morning, students at Bay of Islands College will get the chance to take part in the Cool to Korero seminar that aims to encourage students to talk about their problems with people they trust before things get on top of them. In the evening, community members will be able to take part in the Community Korero to discuss how to help prevent suicide in their town.
Click here to check out photos and feedback from the Whangarei Korero.
Hikoi for Better Mental Healthcare Choices in NZ: Schedule April – May
Annie Chapman is walking the length of the north island following the Te Araroa trail to raise awareness of the need for better mental-healthcare choices in NZ. She’s on a mission to take a petition to parliament seeking improved options for people using public mental health services across the country. Across April and May she’ll stop off at a range of different towns to touch base with locals and collect signatures.
Itinerary for April and May 2013
- Taumarunui 5 April
- Whanganui 22/23 April
- Fielding 12th May
- Palmerston North 14th May
- Otaki 21st May
- Paraparaumu 24th May
- Porirua 28th May
Times and venues for Community Hikoi Meetings coming soon.
If you are interested in organising a Hikoi Meeting for your group or community contact Annie Chapman’s new volunteer Hikoi coordinator, Miriam Larsen-Barr by emailing admin@engagenz.co.nz
Keep yourself in the loop at the official Facebook event.
And don’t forget to sign and share the petition!
If you’d like to know a bit more about what this Hikoi is all about, please click here to watch a short video taken of the Hikoi Meeting in Whangarei.
The C Word: C is For Consumer | New Blog Promotes Discussion
An important new forum for strengthening self-determination in mental-health recovery has been launched on the Changing Minds website – a brand new blog called The C Word.
The latest blog post on ‘The C Word’ was released on Friday the 15th of March, and this time the blogger tackles the word ‘Consumer’ and ideas of self-identification:
“Working in what is considered a “consumer” role, most people would assume that I identify as a “consumer”. But I don’t. Put simply, I just can’t identify with that term, and to be honest I feel the same way when it comes to alternatives such as “service-user”.
I choose instead to identify as a person.
I’ve had experiences in my life that have lead me to work in the mental health and addictions sector. These experiences probably enable me to work in this sector more effectively, because I bring personal knowledge as well as professional knowledge to my work. I don’t feel that I should need to share those life experiences to prove my validity as a humanitarian and as an asset to the community sector. I’m a person – a person with a strong sense of social justice and who believes that all human beings should be free from harm and treated with fairness and respect. ”
Info Refresher: The Disability Allowance
The Disability Allowance is a weekly payment to help people meet the costs associated with a disability or health condition (including mental-health conditions). You can find out more by following the link below. You might be surprised to find out just how many things you can get help with if you live with the effects of a health condition.
About the Disability Allowance
The Disability Allowance is a weekly payment for people of all ages who have a disability or ongoing health condition and need help with the additional costs directly associated with that condition.
It is available to people who qualify for a Community Services Card including those on a benefit or people who are working. There is an income test. An application can also be made on behalf of a child if they are aged 18 years or under and financially dependent on the person who is making the application.
To qualify for Disability Allowance the person must:
have a disability or health condition that is likely to last at least six months have regular, ongoing costs because of a disability which are not fully covered by another agency are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here meet the income and asset test.
Allowable costs covered by a Disability Allowance
Following are some examples of costs that a Disability Allowance may be paid for; noting that the cost must be directly related to the person’s disability:
Alternative treatment: must be supported by a medical practitioner as being necessary to be publically funded for the person’s condition, and the treatment provided or supervised by a health practitioner (under the HPCAA).
Ambulance fees and subscriptions: when a person is required to pay ambulance fees or subscription fees on an annual on-going basis.
Authorised consumables: can cover the ongoing additional cost of consumable items needed by a person, eg hearing aids, vet’s fees etc for guide dogs, incontinence pads (if they are not provided through Health).
Clothing: for additional clothing costs that a person has which may arise because of greater frequency of washing, wear and tear resulting from use of a prosthetic aid or wheelchair or the need to have clothes or shoes made-to-measure.
Counselling: for counselling fees if the need for counselling is directly related to the person’s disability. It is limited to 10 sessions with the opportunity for some additional sessions if clinically indicated (uncommon).
Day care for the elderly disabled: to help meet the costs of an elderly disabled person (usually aged 65 or over) to attend a day care centre, and/or the cost of transport to the centre.
Gardening, lawns and outside window cleaning: covers the costs of gardening, lawn-mowing, and outside window cleaning for the person’s own home or private residence where the person or another resident in the home is unable to do these tasks themselves.
Gym and swimming pool fees: may be paid when the exercise activities are directly related to a person’s disability and will have a therapeutic value.
Medical alarms: to cover the costs of medical alarm rental and monitoring if a medical alarm is necessary for normal daily living and without it, the person’s life or health would be put at risk, or their disability would be aggravated.
Medical fees: to cover the cost of appointments with general practitioners, specialists or hospital fees if the costs are additional and ongoing. This can also include fees for the some other health services (if a registered medical practitioner verifies the need and its relationship to the documented disability or health condition), for example occupational therapy, physiotherapy, audiology, podiatry or dental services.
Pharmaceutical charges: to cover the costs of regular and ongoing pharmaceutical charges. Note: It is generally only paid to assist with the cost of pharmaceutical products that are subsidised or partially subsidised under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act.
Power, gas and heating: for the additional electricity, gas or heating costs that a person has. It is for the costs over and above the normal power consumption of similar-sized households.
Rental equipment: for necessary rental equipment when the client has a need for the item or service but can’t receive funding through the District Health Board or another state funded agency and their life or health would be put at risk, or their disability aggravated if they could not hire the equipment.
Special foods: to cover the additional costs of special foods, ie for costs over and above the normal cost of food. Vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies and minerals can also be included when they are recommended as necessary for the management of the condition.
Telephone: for telephone costs to a person with a disability only when the ongoing cost of the telephone is directly related to the person’s disability.
Transport – disability: for additional travel costs that a person has because of their disability. These additional travel costs can be incurred when a person with a disability is carrying out everyday activities. Examples of everyday activities may include (but is not limited to) shopping, vocational services and work.
Transport – personal health: to cover the costs of regular travel to a health practitioner for supervision or treatment of the person’s disability.
Funded New Zealand Sign Language Interpreters for Deaf Parents
The Ministry of Education is now funding New Zealand Sign Language Interpreters for Deaf parents so they can contribute and participate in their children’s core education activities while their children are attending primary and secondary school.
This service covers:
- formal parent-teacher meetings
- Individual Education Plan meetings
- attendance at prize giving/special assemblies
- attendance at any additional meetings with school staff where any aspect of a child’s education is being discussed
- attendance at school enrolment meetings.
For information about the service go to: http://www.isign.co.nz/services/funding, or contact Carolyn Grace, phone 04 463 8953 or email carolyn.grace@minedu.govt.nz .
Press Release: Details Confirmed for Mike King’s Community Korero and Kaitaia College Seminars
Press Release: Engage Aotearoa & Key to Life Charitable Trust
For Immediate Release | 20 Feb 2013
Mike King Visits Kaitaia to Throw Solutions at Suicide
Popular comedian and radio talk-show host Mike King will visit Kaitaia on the 5th and 6th of March for a series of seminars to reduce suicide in the Far North. On the evening of the 5th, King will lead a Community Korero at Te Ahu, accompanied by musician Ruia Aperahama (What’s the Time Mr Wolf, Southside of Bombay, Songs from the Inside). The following day, King and Aperahama will present two seminars for junior and senior students at Kaitaia College, called It’s Cool to Korero.
In It’s Cool to Korero, King will talk with Kaitaia College students about how he survived growing up. Mike’s is the story of a kid who wanted to fit in. It is about wanting to be part of the cool group but being 4’11 with buck teeth and big ears and needing a miracle to make it happen. Then one day he discovered he had a gift to make people laugh and he went from being bullied, to being liked and then many years later becoming a bully himself. Mike will share tips on how to deal with bullies and also why bullies do what they do. Most of all, he will speak about why it is important to talk rather than “have conversations with yourself.” King says his main point is that “in life there will always be hurdles and heartbreak, but with perseverance, support and an attitude of hope, great things will happen.”
Mike King’s Community Korero will take place at Te Ahu from 6 – 8 pm on Tuesday the 5th of March. Entry is free and all are welcome. At the Community Korero, King will speak about his battle with depression, addiction and his ongoing journey back to recovery, including the mistakes he made along the way and the things that made a difference. He will discuss the things he learnt from the hard times and how all those mistakes were blessings in disguise. Both talks will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions and share strategies. This is a not-to-be-missed chance for the community to come together and explore how to support our rangatahi and each other to survive and thrive. Stacks of useful free resources will be available for community members to take away for later use. King says, “It is time to stop throwing negatives at the problem of suicide and time to start throwing positives at a solution!”
This initiative was organised by ex-Kaitaia College student, Miriam Larsen-Barr, who operates a mental-health promotion project called Engage Aotearoa and is currently completing a doctorate in clinical psychology in Auckland. Visiting home for the summer, Larsen-Barr was struck by how many sad stories and suicides had happened in the community in the past year. Larsen-Barr says “I do all this work in other places to promote helpful ways of thinking about mental-health problems and make it easier to approach recovery. It seemed wrong to come home to holiday and not share those resources with the town that grew me.”
Mike King is best known for his role as a comedian and host of the Radio Live talk-show The Nutters Club. But King is also involved in The Key to Life Charitable Trust, an organisation that aims to achieve a zero suicide-rate in New Zealand. King and Larsen-Barr met through their shared passion for preventing suicide (both have been working on projects to tell people’s recovery stories) and when King received the call to make a difference in Kaitaia, he leapt at the chance. King and Aperahama are both donating their time to the cause, The Mental-Health Foundation of NZ is providing additional take-home resources and local organisations Te Runanga o Te Rarawa and The Beachcomber Restaurant have sponsored the initiative to ensure it goes ahead.
More information can be found on Engage Aotearoa’s Mental-Health News and Events Blog at http://www.engagenz.co.nz/?p=3989
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Hikoi for reTHiNK of Mental-Healthcare Choices Arriving in Auckland
One Woman Walking: Hikoi for a Big reTHiNK of Mental Healthcare Choices
Annie Chapman is on a hikoi across the length of the North Island to raise awareness about the need for better mental healthcare choices to be made available to service-users in New Zealand.
“I have ceased to be surprised now by how almost everyone I talk to about why I am walking has a story to tell of friends or loved ones in need, utterly failed by the mental health system.” ~ Annie Chapman, 21 December 2012
Annie Chapman will be in Auckland from the 14th – 21st February 2013 (and in fact she may arrive a few days earlier than this).
So far the Auckland events in place are:
• Saturday morning, 16th Feb, from 10 am til 12 noon at Morra Hall, Waiheke. Note: there has been a change of venue to allow for a more formal setting. Instead of Ostend Market as originally planned, Annie Chapman will now be at Morra Hall, Oneroa, Waiheke
• A meeting on 15th February with colleagues of Brigitte Sistig re Yoga and Depression
• A second radio interview with “Take it from Us” (Feb 19)
• A screening/talk of Jim Marbrook’s film “Mental Notes” as a fund-raiser on the 17th of February at Connect SR in Glenfield.
If you have any questions or suggestions of other good possible places to meet, speak or be interviewed by media, please contact Annie direct on 027 4272644 or Hikoiforhealth@gmail.com
Find out more on the official Facebook Page
Help spread the word – invite your friends to the Facebook Event
Mental Health Commissioner Seeks Service-User and Whanau Feedback: Survey Online Now
The Mental Health Commission are running a service-user feedback survey, which can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3HCNGRQ
This survey is for consumers only, and is totally anonymous. People who are family members or supporters of people using services are also able to complete the survey.
It will provide feedback to the Commissioner prior to their community meetings which begin in Auckland on the 15th of February.
If you can’t make it to the community meetings, this survey is your chance to make sure your experiences as a person using mental-health and addictions services are heard by our national policy-makers and funding bodies.
Community Resources Directory Updates
The Community Resources Directory was updated on Christmas Eve and again on the 27th of January.
What’s new in the Community Resources Directory?
- Sub-sections for National, Upper North Island, Lower North Island and South Island services have been added where information is available. Future updates will continue to expand these regional sub-sections until the Directory becomes a nation-wide resource.
- A new combined Child, Youth and Family/Whanau section
- New psychotherapy, counselling and psychologist services added for Christchurch and Auckland
Coming Soon
- Crisis Lines section
- Anger Management section
- Resources from the Gisborne region added to each section (thanks to pamphlets collected on a recent trip to the area).
Make the resource work for you and your people!
- Tell us about the mental-health resources in your region!
- Tell us about your service and the resources you use!
Email Engage Aotearoa and we will include the info in our next update.
The Community Resources Directory makes it easy for people to find the recovery resources they need.
It is designed to be freely downloaded and shared.
If you are a service provider, you can help empower your service-users by making a printed copy of The Directory available in your waiting room.
