Family/ Whanau Forum
Northern Regional Family/Whanau Forum
A Regional Family Voice influencing decisions in mental health and addiction services that lead to excellence for all
This monthly Monday afternoon forum was started in 2004 for family/whanau members who are involved in the mental health and addiction services through their support of someone who experiences mental illness. It meets at the Northern DHB Support Agency in Penrose. It is attended by family/whanau, some of whom attend in a voluntary capacity and others in a paid capacity as family advisors or family support workers across the Northern Region.
The core principles that the forum operates from are:
- promoting respect for family voice and viewpoint
- developing healthy partnerships between people with experience of mental illness, their families/whanau and the mental health and addiction services
- promoting family inclusion/ involvement
- Influencing systemic change
- Regional high quality consistency enabling services to deliver appropriate local solutions
- transparency of decision making and process
- Equitable access regardless of age, ethnicity or geographical location
- acknowledgement that families/whanau from all cultures and backgrounds want recovery focused services for their loved ones.
The forum exists
- To provide a collective voice for family/whanau issues to be raised at the top levels of decision making in mental health.
- To ensure that improvement and change for families/whanau happens in a consistent way across the region
- To provide a central place where families/whanau across the Northern Region can be informed of new developments
