Hospital and Specialist Services

Te Awhina Peer Advocacy

Balance Aotearoa have peer support workers who work out of the acute psychiatric unit - Te Awhina. The peer workers here offer advocacy support in appointments, MDT and discharge appointments as a support person for the tangata whaiora and whānau.

The peer workers in this space can help to plan for these appointments, advocate on your behalf, and help you to practice advocating for ourself if you are ready. They can help with wellness plans, discharge planning and liaising with clinical staff on behalf of, or preferably with, the tangata whaiora and their whānau.

Stanford House

Stanford house is the inpatient forensic psychiatric unit here in Whanganui, we have some peer support workers who work with the tangata whaiora who are currently utilizing this service. The mahi that our peer workers engage in within this space incudes taking part in their conversation cafe’s, being part of clinical governance and consumer advisory in this space, peer support in day services/occupational therapy and encouraging whaiora to make the most of any opportunity to enrich their life and work towards rehabilitation.