Frequently asked questions

Equally Well is a networked, action-focused collaborative movement involving people and organisations pursuing the “common goal of achieving physical health equity for people who experience mental health and addiction issues”.

As we take a collective impact approach (explained further below), our focus is on connecting and championing organisations so that by working together we can create lasting change. We champion the message and advocate for the rights of tāngata whai ora to be physically well. While we do not work directly with tāngata whai ora, a number of our endorsing organisations do such as Mind and Body, Ember Korowai Takitini, and Balance Aotearoa.

Since 2014 Equally Well has operated through a collective impact approach. The Collective impact model describes an intentional way of working together and sharing information for the purpose of solving a complex problem. Its origins are North American in 2011 and since then has been used as a successful model for community change.

Collective impact is about agreeing to work together to combine resources and expertise towards a common shared goal. It follows a movement-building approach built up through a network of member organisations, communities, and individuals.

Collective impact has five criteria to make it work:

1. 1. Common agenda – Equally Well partners have a shared vision and goal
   2. Shared measurement system – our measures of success includes peoples’ experiences of physical health equity, practice and policy changes.
   3. Mutually reinforcing activities – Equally Well partners engage in a diverse but connected set of activities and actions.
   4. Continuous communication – frequent communications helps us build trust, encourage action, learnings and shared wins
   5. Backbone organisation – the Equally Well backbone team co-ordinates and manages the day-to-day work to support strategic coherence and impact

• The physical health inequities for people with mental health and addiction issues is a complex and unfair problem which cannot be solved by a single policy, organisation, or individual.
• The collective impact approach allows many partners to make a longstanding commitment to work together.
• The issues and solutions are owned by a wide and diverse range of people which makes the effort more effective and sustainable.
• Enables participation from people at all levels of knowledge and influence to participate.

Collective impact wisdom describes us as an ‘eco-system’ with interconnected hubs of actions led by people and organisations with particular interests or strengths. Collaboration cannot occur without supporting infrastructure. The key structural elements of Equally Well include:

• Collaborative Leadership Group – to provide strategic leadership for the Equally Well collaborative
• Backbone team – an essential group who meet regularly to maintain overall strategic coherence, and coordinate and manage the day-to-day operations and implementation of work, including stakeholder engagement, communications, data collection and analysis, and other responsibilities.
• Working groups or hubs – a group of people who recognise a need or an opportunity to work together to achieve shared outcomes, they create a working group or a hub.

The Equally Well collaborative needs to pursue equity through five strategies (FSG):

1. 1. Ground the work in data and context, and target solutions
   2. Focus on systems change, in addition to programmes and services
   3. Shift power within the collaborative
   4. Listen to and act with community
   5. Build equity leadership and accountability

Ngā Waka o Matariki is the Equally Well Māori Health Strategy and is the life force, energy and air for the collaborative. Ngā Waka o Matariki inspires champions to action which ensures and promotes Māori and whānau health equity alongside health equity of everyone living with mental health and addiction issues.

As part of Equally Well, in 2014 Te Pou published the first evidence review of both published and unpublished literature on the physical health of people who experience mental health and addiction challenges. Since then, we have regularly published new evidence updates on the issue to provide the Equally Well collaborative with the latest evidence to inform and guide actions to achieve physical health equity for people with experience of mental health and addiction issues.

You can read the 2020 Equally Well evidence update here.

• Know the problem and work out how you and your organisation can help
• Be intentional in advocating for Equally Well. Put actions into organisation plans, be accountable, review often, and celebrate success
• Incorporate equity into all of your work
• Use data to inform your Equally Well work
• Share your story to inspire other organisations

• Be involved in a genuine way
• Be an advocate – continually ask question yourself as to what’s your role and where do you have influence?