Kia ora

The Equally Well backbone team are pleased to bring you our final e-news for 2024 and highlight the many activities that have been made toward physical health equity this year.

10 years of Equally Well

Before the end of 2024, we would like to share that it’s been 10 years since the beginnings of Equally Well. We have plenty to celebrate, and more work to do. Thank you to the many people who put words into action.

Equally Well started in 2014, when a group of mental health and addiction leaders and advocates from the non-government sector were discussing the untimely deaths of many people in contact with mental health and addiction services. By December 2016, Equally Well Aotearoa had 100 organisations who pledged their commitment to take action in their spheres of influence.

In 2019, Ngā Waka o Matariki, the Equally Well Māori Health Strategy was formed, and the strategy drives all that we do.

As a collaborative, we can celebrate many service initiatives and policy changes, some of which include:

  • The range of Equally Well initiatives across the country and across services, including all the actions from the Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission Maximising Physical Health project
  • The Public Health Association’s Equally Well Policy Statement
  • Inclusion in the New Zealand Cancer Action Plan 2019–2029
  • Primary care Guidance on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment (CVDRA) (from age 25)
  • Joining Equally Well Australia and Equally Well UK in a global call for fair and equitable access to vaccination for people living with mental illness and substance use disorders
  • Priority group for COVID-19 vaccination and antivirals
  • Funded flu vaccination for tāngata whai ora who receive support from mental health and addiction services or have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder
  • Activation of the Tupuānuku research findings and particularly highlighting inequities for Māori
  • Activation of the SEE US campaign.

For 10 years, the Equally Well collaborative, using collective impact, has influenced change at both a system level and with service delivery across the health and health-related sectors. An amazing group of active champions have come together advocating for change.

So, what’s next?

  • From February 2025, the Equally Well lunchtime meetups will be monthly, as an opportunity for collective impact discussion, sharing of knowledge and connection
  • Equally Well will publish updated resources including an overview of Equally Well

Equally Well champions, with the support of the backbone team, will continue to identify what we need to do to continue championing towards physical health equity for tāngata whai ora.

 

A summary of the recent in-person workshops and online webinars

In-person workshops

Thank you to everyone who attended our Equally Well in-person events across October this year in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (9 October), Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (15 October) and Ōtautahi Christchurch (22 October). The events were hosted by the Equally Well backbone team in collaboration with the University of Otago.

We have published an evaluation summary of the workshops, which you can find here.The summary includes data reflections from the workshops.

Workshop champions at all three workshops asked for resources to support them in their work, and we have brought together a few here:

Let’s get real worker wellbeing resources

This set of resources has been developed as part of the Let’s get real framework, and provides pointers for wellbeing at work:
Let’s get real | Worker Wellbeing | Te Pou

Blueprint for Learning workshops

Blueprint for Learning offers two free community workshops: Addiction 101 and Mental Health 101 for anyone who is likely to know people experiencing mental distress or addiction challenges, particularly people working in frontline roles supporting youth, Māori, Pasifika, rural, or Rainbow communities. Find out more about each and sign up here:
Addiction 101
Mental Health 101

Whakaāio ā-rongo sensory modulation resources

Whakaāio ā-rongo or sensory modulation is an evidence based tool that supports trauma informed approaches and reduction of restrictive practices and is recognised within the Six Core Strategies©. Sensory Modulation has proven to have a positive impact on people accessing these services.

More information on sensory modulation is available here:
Sensory modulation | Least restrictive practice | Te Pou

If you are interested in sensory modulation, the Tom’s Journey comic is somewhere to start and is a resource which you can share with tāngata whai ora. You can view the comic and order free hard copies here:
Tom’s Journey in visual media | Te Pou

Te Whāriki o te Ara Oranga: He Aka Hui
Kōrure o te Tai: Changing the direction of the tide webinars

Te Whāriki o te Ara Oranga hosted two one-hour He Aka Hui webinars in September and October, which were a collaboration between Whāriki, the Equally Well backbone team, and the Tupuānuku researchers at the University of Otago.

The He Aka Hui webinars shared key findings from the Tupuānuku research. The webinars engaged with attendees to develop solutions and key actions to bring about a change in the tide, of the health system.

The He Aka Hui webinars were delivered in two parts.

Part 1: The role of primary care and the health workforce
A focus on the workforce and the role of primary health care.

Part 2: Lived experience of diagnostic overshadowing
A focus on the lived experience of diagnostic overshadowing and how it impacts on health care and outcomes.

Recordings of both webinars can be viewed here.

Our next lunchtime meetups

Save these dates for the series of Lunchtime meetups in the first half of 2025. Please note that we have moved to Microsoft Teams.

Wednesday 12th February 2025
Thursday 13th March 2025
Tuesday 15th April 2025
Wednesday 14th May 2025
Thursday 19th June 2025

Sign up for the lunchtime meetups here:

Lunchtime meetup | Equally Well

So, what can you do today?

Keep up your important work!

We appreciate your ongoing support and commitment to advancing physical health equity and well-being for all. Together, we can engage in collective action to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Ngā mihi o te wā – Season’s greetings,

Equally Well backbone team