Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says the new service will help people to feel supported. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Peer support workers are joining the frontline in Dunedin Hospital's emergency department to help people arriving in mental health crisis.
It's the sixth major hospital to add the service since September last year when it was launched at Middlemore Hospital.
The service will be run by Life Matters Suicide Trust, complementing the drop-in and crisis services it already provides in the community.
The trust's acting general manager, Dr Meg Vardy, said she had experiences of going into an emergency department, feeling overwhelmed and possibly having the worst day in her life.
"I have been that person and to have someone to sit down next to me and say, with authenticity, 'I see you. I hear you. I know what you're going through and you can do this.' That would have made the world of difference to me," she said.
This initiative was an opportunity to be able to be that voice for someone, walk alongside people in crisis and help them to build connections, she said.
As well as their lived experiences, she said all of their peer support specialists had training in intentional peer support and safe talk.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey met with workers in Dunedin on Wednesday, saying they helped people to feel supported, heard and more connected.
"For people arriving at an emergency department in mental health crisis, the experience can feel overwhelming," Doocey said.
"Having a peer support specialist alongside them, someone with lived experience who understands what they're going through can make a huge difference."
They also helped to link people back into community services, Doocey said.
Peer support workers were part of the government's mental health plan to improve crisis response, access to support, and add more frontline workers.
"As New Zealand's first Minister for Mental Health, I'm determined to better utilise and strengthen the peer support workforce
"Their expertise and empathy are invaluable in our mental health system and part of a silent revolution taking place."
He described meeting a peer support worker in Wellington who was candid about her experiences with the emergency department.
"She was really excited now that she was going back in as a peer support lived experience worker to get alongside people in their time of need, not to tell them what to do but just to share their story of light and hope and recovery," Doocey said.
"I think that's the real magic of peer-led services."
He confirmed the government's commitment to peer support in emergency departments was ongoing and it had been allocated mental health and addiction ring-fenced funding.
Dunedin Hospital's Emergency Department entrance. Photo:
'Confrontational space'
Southern operations group director Craig Ashton welcomed the rollout.
"The ED [Emergency Department] can be a really confrontational space when someone is in mental distress and a provider like Life Matters have that lived experienced to really make a real impact, partnering with ED's team," he said.
Dunedin Hospital Emergency Department charge nurse manager Janet Andrews said they were ironing out the details to confirm the times of the day there was a greater need.
"Trying to spread it across as much as we can to ensure as much coverage and supporting our community essentially when they come in to us," she said.
There would be training next month for emergency department staff and the team from the trust.
"That's really important for them [ED staff] to understand what peer support is because for a lot of clinicians they won't have any idea so we need to make sure they understand," she said.
The initiative was in a soft launch with plans to roll it out properly in the coming months.
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