COVID-19 is still with us and the ongoing impact is still
stressful for many whānau. Some people have lost jobs,
homes, lives, loved ones and hope.
Health Navigator
Charitable Trust (HNCT) and Te Whatu Ora – Health New
Zealand have partnered to create 15 new wellbeing website
pages, four personal stories and 19 videos that focus on the
broader psychosocial aspects of COVID and is designed to
help whānau cope with COVID-19 and the potential aftermath
of long COVID. For example: Why
does this feel so hard?
The resources add to an
already large volume of Health
Navigator-produced mental health and wellbeing topics
and went live on the Health Navigator NZ website during
Mental Health Awareness Week. They can be accessed from
these two landing pages.
Emotional
support for getting through the pandemic
Practical
support for getting through the pandemic
Many
factors contribute to wellbeing including: the state of our
mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health (as
described by Te Whare Tapa Wha), our connection to others
and the environment – along with other matters, such as
dealing with an addiction or anxiety, employment status,
housing conditions and access to healthy kai. These are the
topics we explore in print and in video animation
format.
Community engagement key to resource
relevance
Four months of community engagement helped
inform the plain language resources and, where possible,
they will be translated and captioned in a range of
languages including te reo Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook
Islands Māori and more.
Health Navigator Charitable
Trust CEO and clinical director Janine Bycroft says: “It may
seem like COVID has gone but it hasn’t, and we see many
whānau, particularly in priority communities, still
experiencing major disruption, disadvantage, challenges and
pressures. From young to old, the social, mental and
psychological consequences are enormous.
“These new
topics were identified by people in those communities as
ones that they really needed and could not easily find
elsewhere,” Dr Bycroft says.
A team of cultural
engagement and consumer advisors assisted in the creation of
the web pages, stories and videos.
Acting executive
director commissioning and community services, Te Whatu Ora
– Health New Zealand, Waitematā, Tim Wood, says the project
aimed “to create and promote plain language and
whānau-friendly resources to support people with COVID-19
from diagnosis to recovery – as well as people without
COVID-19 who are trying to cope in extreme
circumstances.”
In particular, the resources:
–
provide specific advice about psychosocial
challenges
-provide specific advice about where and
how to access support
– improve knowledge and
understanding about what to expect if you get
COVID-19
– reduce anxiety about the unknown and give
people the knowledge and confidence to manage on a
day-to-day basis.
The final tranche of resources still
to be released will be a set of easily printed factsheets in
English and five other languages. While the resources and
tools are developed in response to COVID-19 in Tāmaki
Makaurau, they remain relevant, available and useful
country-wide.
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