Psychosocial response, recovery and ongoing support

Kaikōura and North Canterbury

The Ministry of Health continues to provide support for Kaikōura and North Canterbury through the Canterbury District Health Board (DHB). Canterbury DHB staff in collaboration with a team of Ministry staff regularly engage and liaise with emergency management, public and community health and mental health service staff and attend regular meetings in Kaikōura and North Canterbury.

Psychosocial recovery plan provides a framework

The Psychosocial Recovery Plan, facilitated by Canterbury DHB, has been developed to deliver a comprehensive and coordinated approach to addressing psychosocial needs in the recovery phase of this disaster.

The Plan outlines a clear framework of how support is provided to community members. A strong focus of the Plan has been engaging with and supporting existing community groups and organisations, such as the Rural Support Trust and local non-governmental organisations. The plan also includes cross-agency recovery work across Te Puni Kōkiri, Health, Social Development, Education and the Primary Industries sectors. The establishment of earthquake navigators contributes to a line of sight across the recovery work in North Canterbury and Kaikōura. Clinical support through the Recovery and Wellbeing team, which bolsters primary health services with linkages to secondary services, has been in place since November. This team is available across North Canterbury and Kaikōura. A range of workforce support and professional development activities have been delivered with ongoing plans to continue these to meet new and emerging needs.

Key messaging about the five ways to wellbeing are widely promoted across both district communities with the aim of providing opportunities for conversation starters and events are planned to help people connect and support their own wellbeing.

A regular updated directory of services is widely available for Hurunui and Kaikōura.

Monthly reporting dashboard

Canterbury DHB developed an anonymised monthly reporting dashboard to monitor key activities. It provides evidence to inform decision-making, which results in an agile approach to recovery as Canterbury DHB can modify its response approach as required. The dashboard captures and tracks activity across the health system, including the recovery and wellbeing team and covers information on age, gender, issues affecting people, outcomes and frequency of visits to this team. General practice data for earthquake-related issues are also being tracked. As with all health information, details of quake-related visits are anonymised to ensure privacy, ie no names or other personal identifying details are recorded.

Ongoing activity

The Ministry of Health and wider health sector of the Canterbury region continue to provide ongoing and regular support, participate in key meetings and are involved with milestone projects. The recovery team will maintain regular communication and participate in the social recovery activities planned and delivered by each Council/Territorial Local Authority. Liaison will continue with both emergency management teams at Canterbury and Nelson/Marlborough District Health Boards to facilitate consistency of work plans, analysis and review of completed activities and projects. We will continue to look for opportunities to improve outcomes for the communities in the affected.

Besides additional funding, the Canterbury and Nelson Marlborough District Health Boards reprioritised their existing budgets to provide extra services, and NGOs have contributed significantly. Navigators also play an important role in the psychosocial support and recovery of whānau experiencing stress and anxiety.

MPI funds psychosocial and other support for farmers through the North Canterbury Rural Support Trust, including a variety of community events.