Dr Tim Hou talks about Te Tumu Waiora and the positive impact it has for patients. The programme provides immediate, easy and free access to support for mental health and social issues affecting someones wellbeing at a convenient place in their local community, their family general practice.

Alysha Simonsen is a health psychologist working as a health improvement practitioner in the Te Tumu Waiora programme at Auckland University Student Health. Here she reflects on one year working as a Health Improvement Practitioner.

Following Alysha, Dr Peter Woolford, a GP at Health New Lynn one of the Te Tumu Waiora pilot practices, talks about the impact of this innovative mental health support programme and what it is like for general practice to have mental health specialists as part of the general practice team.

Awhi Ora – Supporting Wellbeing, is a key part of the model where NGO support workers and peers walk alongside people in distress supporting them in increase their wellbeing in their local community. A clip explaining this approach is below

“I was nervous, she put me at ease. It was easy to talk about everything. Life, family, money; I put it all on the table. ”
— Patient