Māhuri Tōtara: National support worker summits 2024

Two Māhuri Tōtara summits for support and peer support workers within the mental health and addiction sectors were held in 2024 – one in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland for kaimahi based in Te Ika a Maui, and one in Ōtautahi Christchurch for people based in Te Waipounamu.

The theme for 2024 was Hononga/ Connection and speakers and activities planned for the summits gave kaimahi the opportunity to:

• connect with each other
• reflect on why they do this mahi and how they connect to whānau
• explore how the great work they do with tāngata whai ora is supported by the accurate collection of data.

At both events, the MC’s – Jase Te Patu in Tāmaki Makaurau and Ninakaye Taane-Tinorau in Ōtautahi – also took attendees through a special session on mindfulness and breathing, putting some much needed focus on kaimahi wellbeing.

To assist support workers to attend Māhuri Tōtara, Te Pou offered a number of travel and accommodation grants to assist some organisations with the cost of their staff’s attendance at the summit.

A full report on the numbers of kaimahi who attended the summits, and their evaluation of the events will be available soon. This will include a summary of the grants that were distributed.