Asian Family Services is the biggest Asian mental health and addiction NGO agency in the country, and this reflects how little resources we have as a community. In the lockdown, many of AFS’s health promoters and counsellors have provided extra support for their communities, including translating COVID-19 information due to the panic reaction posted through social media from the communities. This was due to the lack of available language-specific information about the lockdown and the risk of COVID-19. To support the communities meant that many of AFS’s staff worked longer hours and harder to...

In 2018, the Ministry of Health and PMGH providers within the Waikato region got together to discuss options for how providers might enhance the collective approaches they hold as a sector and bring more visibility to the kaupapa within communities and throughout the wider mental health and addictions sector. This eventually became known as the Waikato PMGH Pilot Project. In 2019, 2 new providers had been selected to deliver the PMGH contracts in Waikato. These were K’aute Pasifika and Te Kohao Health. These providers are Whānau Ora providers and offered an opportunity to both explore ways to...