Two familiar faces will head up Canterbury’s roll out of Te Tumu Waiora – a model which puts mental health and wellbeing at the heart of general practice with focused roles working from the practice.

Hiedee Harris will fill the position of Project Manager while Shelley McCabe fills the position of Clinical Implementation Leader.

Hiedee has worked with the CCN Programme Office since November 2018 as Facilitator of the Ashburton SLA, Primary Care Capability SLA, and the Co-ordinated Access on Release Group.

Linda Wensley, CCN Programme Manager, said: “The Te Tumu Waiora project will benefit greatly from Hiedee’s capability facilitating progress in challenging areas of work and her experience to date with the Ashburton and Primary Care Capability SLAs.”

Shelley has been actively involved in the establishment of Te Tumu Waiora Canterbury over the past six months, and involved at a national level over the past two years. She has a strong enthusiasm for the model, believing it to be one of the most positive mental health and wellbeing initiatives she has seen in her experience working in this field.

Jane Cartwright, Independent Advisor for CCN and Chair of the Te Tumu Waiora Canterbury governance group, said: “Shelley trained as a Social Worker and has had many years’ experience working in the Mental Health Sector. This includes work for Te Pou as a regional workforce coordinator, in a variety of positions within mental health specialist services and as a service leader in primary mental health.”

Te Tumu Waiora - te reo for ‘to head towards wellness’ - is a new model of primary mental health and addictions care and support which aims to provide all New Zealanders experiencing mental distress or addictions challenges with access to convenient, high quality, integrated and person-centred care and support.

The model puts mental health and wellbeing at the heart of general practice with focused roles, Health Improvement Practitioners and Health Coaches, working as part of the general practice team.

The pair will hold these positions for 12-months initially.

 For more information about Te Tumu waiora Canterbury visit the webpage here.