New Whāraurau Director To Oversee Expansion Of E-learning Offering

Whāraurau has a new director. Abigail Milnes,
who became acting director in September 2021, has been
confirmed to continue permanently in the
role.

Whāraurau provides evidence-based
learning and development for people who work in child and
youth mental health. Contracted by the ministries of Health
and Education, it provides workforce development in
best-practice approaches to mental health and wellbeing as
well as support in systems and service
improvement.

“Equity for people in Aotearoa is the
cornerstone of Whāraurau,” says Milnes. “We are here to
support the workforce and help them be the best they
can.”

Milnes has been with the UniServices-run
Whāraurau, which is based on Waipapa Taumata Rau,
University of Auckland research, for seven years. She
previously worked at the Ministry of Health in policy and
workforce development roles.

Milnes will lead
Whāraurau through an expansion of its e-learning offering.
Though it once supported a primarily clinically based
workforce, Whāraurau has extended its training and
resources to community workers, social workers, teachers and
people with lived experience of mental health challenges who
provide peer support.

Milnes is also excited about an
e-learning partnership with fellow UniServices business unit
Tui Tuia | Learning Circle, which provides professional
development for teachers.

The online learning will be
launched in 2023 and will include e-modules and supporting
webinars designed to help school staff minimise student
distress and the need to use physical restraint.

There
is a lot of potential in this piece of work, says Milnes,
particularly because schools tend to be siloed. Teachers
deal with the immediate needs of students in front of them
the best they can, sometimes without awareness of what
amplifies distress or the external support available for a
struggling young person or whānau.

Asking the
workforce for more detailed feedback will be a priority for
Milnes and she plans to seek views, not only on individual
workshops or webinars, but about the work of Whāraurau
overall.

“We want to find out if our strategies are
working for them, including our website and learning
management system, our virtual hui and our regional
visits,” says Milnes.

The Whāraurau team includes
staff from diverse training backgrounds and perspectives,
including backgrounds in clinical training, Te Ao Māori,
Pacific approaches, project management and policy
development. This broad skillset is useful because projects
are always evaluated from a range of viewpoints and through
lived experience, says Milnes.

Whāraurau also works
closely with other providers, including Te Pou, Le Va and Te
Rau Ora – the adult, Pacific and Māori mental health
workforce development centres. These relationships are
beneficial and reciprocal.

Learn
more about Abigail Milnes.

About
Whāraurau
Whāraurau works to improve the
mental health and wellbeing of infants, children and youth
and those who care for them by providing workforce
development within the infant, child and youth mental health
and addiction sector in Aotearoa. Through UniServices, we
are contracted by the Ministries of Health and Education to
grow the capacity and capability of the infant, child, youth
and whānau mental health and addictions workforces. We
offer a range of e-learning courses, training and webinars
that are government-funded and free to
access.

About
UniServices 
UniServices is a
not-for-profit company of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of
Auckland, that transforms research into global impact
starting in Aotearoa New Zealand. We serve as kaihono (those
who link people to people and people to projects) by
bringing together researchers, businesses, investors,
government agencies and our communities. We whakatupu
(nurture), advance and invest in the ideas and intellectual
property that arise from the University by helping translate
it into products, services, companies and public-good
projects, all to build a better
world. 

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