Well South said in a statement there were often barriers to getting support but with help on site at many local general practices, often with same-day appointments, getting mental health and wellbeing support had become a lot easier.
Access and Choice, the nationwide mental health programme, integrates Health Improvement Practitioners (HIPs), Health Coaches (HCs) and Community Support Workers (CSWs) into general practice teams.
Having help at local doctors had been a game changer for many people. The Southern service — named Tokū Oranga – had delivered more than 130,000 sessions to more than 44,000 people in Otago and Southland since it launched in 2020.
The statement said Access and Choice practitioners offered free support with 20 to 30-minute appointments to help people make changes towards improved wellbeing. Depending on the person’s needs, they would see an HIP, HC or CSW, who could help with a variety of support — no matter their age, life stage or concerns affecting their mental, physical, social and/or spiritual wellbeing.
HIPs work on skills and strategies to help move things in the right direction, paying careful attention to what is important for the person and what gives their life purpose and meaning.
WellSouth commissioned a formative evaluation of the programme in Southern for the year ending 2022. Evidence from interviews with 12 consumers, 12 months of programme data from a sample of 13 practices — 8511 introductions — was resounding in the success of the programme. The report said consumers valued the programme to a great extent, with one saying they were "screaming from the balconies" in support of it.
One male patient explained what the programme did for him.
"As a Kiwi male, you’re not gonna sort of sit your mates down and say, hey, I’m really struggling or whatever. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve got support networks around me. But the meeting [with the worker] itself wasn’t daunting. It kind of just pulled me up a little bit and that was enough for me."
Across Southern’s WellSouth general practice network of 78 practices, 50 have an Access & Choice/Tokū Oranga practitioner on site, which includes Gore.
Accessing the services is easy and free. The Access and Choice team are based within GP practices, so they are easily accessible and can usually be seen on the same day as a GP or nurse appointment. If not, patients could book a time that suited them.
Gore health improvement practitioner Janelle Gibson summed up what the service had to offer.
"We can work with anything that is a problem of living, that comes up as part of being human, stress management, grief and loss, sleep issues, low mood, antenatal or postnatal wellbeing, chronic pain management or just to learn techniques to manage challenging thoughts, feelings and behaviours."
