Equally Well is a connected, action-focused collaborative movement involving people and organisations pursuing the “common goal of achieving physical health equity for people who experience mental health and addiction issues”.
Ngā Waka o Matariki is the Equally Well Māori Health Strategy. It is the life force, energy and air for the collaborative: inspiring champions to action which ensures and promotes Māori and whānau health equity inclusive of health equity of everyone living with mental health and addiction issues.
Equally Well’s vision is that people living with mental health and addiction issues enjoy longevity and a quality of life comparable to their peers without mental health and addiction issues.
We want to see physical health of people with mental health and addiction issues promoted, valued and actively supported throughout the health system.
That any physical health issues are picked up early and responded to with high quality support and treatments, free of stigma and discrimination.
The way we work is a little different.
Since 2014 Equally Well has operated through a collective impact approach. It is an intentional way of working together and sharing information for the purpose of solving a complex problem.
Imagine Equally Well as a network with interconnected hubs of action led by people and organisation with particular interests or strengths. Partners of Equally Well lead their own action hubs and other champions or organisations can link in with the specific actions. We can have as many hubs of action as we like – some may be time limited, others continue and evolve their focus.
These action hubs are interconnected and communicate across the collaborative. The work is then supported by a collaborative leadership group, who provides strategic oversight and guidance for the collaborative, and a backbone team, who facilitates, supports and drives all activity.
A key element of collective impact is having a backbone team which links and co-ordinates regional, national, and international activity among partners. For Equally Well, this team is hosted by Te Pou, Platform and Ember.
The people involved in the various action hubs come from a range of organisations, including lived experience communities, Māori, mental health and addiction services and the broader health sector, particularly primary care.
Champions (advocates) can come from lived experience (and Māori), whānau, academic, policy, general practice, nursing, psychiatry, support work, public health, pharmacy, and cardiology backgrounds. People and organisations that have made a formal commitment to Equally Well make up the endorsing organisations. These include government (primary health organisations, Te Whatu Ora localities) and non-government organisations (NGOs), general practices, and health professional bodies, like RNZCGP, RANZCP and RACP, Te Ao Māramatanga, the Council of Medical Colleges, and Take Notice Ltd, a Māori lived experience organisation.
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