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PUMAU KI TE ORANGA
PRIMARY MENTAL HEALTH
Catering for the 17% of the mild - moderate non-severe mental health population |
The aim of this service is to improve access to Primary Mental Health Diagnosis, Referral, & Management |
Criteria
- 18 years +
- K10 Assessment mild to moderate
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Registered with Ngati Porou Hauora
Referred by GP
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Diagnosis Focus
- Depression
- Substance Abuse
- Grief
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Anxiety / Panic Attacks
Life Stressors
Addictions
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Access To
- Assessment
- Treatment Planning
- Social Support
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Early Intervention
Referral to other Agencies
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| This Service acts as the ambulance at the TOP of the cliff before mental health issues become entrenched |
CONTACT |
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What is primary mental health?
Primary mental health care is the component of primary health care that addresses a person’s and their family/whänau’s psychological distress and illness. Whänau ora is the basis of early or minimal interventions that support an environment for empowerment and wellness.
Pumau ki te Oranga, Ngati Porou Hauora, is a primary mental health service, that caters for the 17% of the mild-moderate mental conditions.
Pumau ki te Oranga, means committed to a persons wellbeing.
Whether it be depression, anxiety/panic attacks, substance abuse issues, grief, life stressors.
Mental health can be affected by multiple factors: physical, emotional, social and spiritual. These factors vary over time depending on the amount of pressure or emotional difficulties people are experiencing. When mental health is affected this can lead to changes in emotional needs, behaviours, communication and thinking.
Until recently, GPs and practice nurses have provided between 50% and 75% of all mental health care without dedicated funding, time or resources (Rodenburg, Dowell & James, 2009).
Latest statistics out now show that 1 in 5 people suffer from depression, and 8% of our young people also suffer from depression. Depression is more than a low mood, it can be a serious illness. An episode of depression is serious if it lasts more than two weeks. Depression can affect people’s day to day living and their quality of life, and if left without support can lead to a serious illness (newzealand.govt.nz). Research shows that in any one year around 20 percent of the community will have a mental health problem. Not all these people will seek help; nor do they probably need to. However, in the event that they do seek help, most people will seek help from a primary health care practitioner, because mental health and physical health are inextricably linked.
The concept that general practices are first-line services providing mental health care, Pumau ki te Oranga is aiding in the integration, working within communities and providing additional services that are needed. There are now opportunities to become even more effective in this work, as part of ‘usual’ care and as part of extended roles that come with increased support for primary mental health care and the advent of new options.
Pumau ki te Oranga is accountable for achieving improved health outcomes for their enrolled population, improving the first contact outcomes for users through the development of holistic tools, better community provider connections and effective follow-up. A variety of follow-up methods that best fit with the lifestyle of the person, for example, follow-up could include telephone consultation, email interactions and text messaging. Building relationships is a key component of delivering primary mental health services to the Mäori, Pacific and other high needs communities.
In New Zealand, the MaGPIe study of attendees at primary health care practices concluded that about a third of all people who consulted a GP in the previous 12 months had a diagnosable mental health problem (MaGPIe Research Group 2003).
Of these:
- 13 percent had an anxiety disorder
- 7 percent had a depressive disorder
- 3 percent a substance use disorder.
In about half these patients, the disorder was current within the past month. The GPs themselves estimated that about half of their patients had experienced psychological problems, and that the mental health problems were moderate to severe in about 10 percent of those.
Although a body of prior research has suggested that GPs ‘miss’ half the psychological problems present in their patients, the MaGPIe study found that, in New Zealand, this was only a problem among patients who had little recent contact with their GP.
Promotion and prevention of mental health issues can help break existing cycles that lead to poor mental wellbeing and mental illness.
Promotion and prevention can:
raise family, whänau and community awareness and acceptance of mental health issues
increase the mental wellbeing of the whole community
assist in the early detection and treatment of mental health problems
reduce the prevalence of mental health issues in enrolled populations
assist in the recovery of individuals who have experienced a mental health problem (Ministry of Health, 2004).
“All services working with people who have early warning signs of a mental illness need to practice early intervention strategies aimed not only at preventing or limiting relapses but also at reducing or preventing the development of high support needs or disability.
. Whilst some of these services have a time limit on their use (for example 12 months), ideally they should be available to people for as long as they require an intensive level of input in order to prevent illness episodes, maintain a full life in the community and prevent disability (Turner, 2002). That is primary mental Health care.
REFERENCES
Ministry of Health. (2004). Primary Health Organisations: Service development
toolkit for mental health services in primary health care. Retrieved on
August 19th, 2009, from www.moh.org.nz
Rodenburg, H, Dowell, T, & James, K. (2009). Primary mental health care:
Service delivery and the impact on the workforce. Journal of Primary Health
care, 2(1), p. 94.
Turner, M. (2002). Evaluation of early intervention in psychosis service in New Zealand: what works? Health Rearch Council: Auckland. |
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