November 2004 - Tracey Napa

This has been such an interesting month as I have been out in visiting many centres in the wider Auckland region. The purpose of these visits was to find out how their service operates, which included posing the questions that our clients would need to know if they were interested in joining. Commuting round the wider regions from North Shore to West, East and South, it dawned on me what a huge city Auckland is!

This process of personally visiting the venues was suggested by the team leader as an ideal way of compiling another visual resource for client to explain how the centres, classes and programmes work and what the immense benefits are of each.

The supported employment agencies I visited, such as the Walsh Trust, Framework Trust "Pathways" and Te Korowai Aroha (the Cloak of Love) were set up to help people with mental illness explore their own interests and to develop and regain their self confidence, with a view towards independence and skills development. The end goal of is for people to find a worthwhile job of their own volition, which is instrumental in the journey to recovery.

It was really inspiring to chat with wonderful individuals from places like the Framework Trust bone-carving centre, who attend the classes, and are happy to chisel away at their beautiful creative pieces, as their passion for their chosen craft radiates! Whether it be woodwork, carpentry, gardening at Kelmana or Devonport gardens, the wide variety of crafts, weaving, painting, photography classes, are only a few to mention that the community caters for to teach skills for clients of the mental health services.

There are counseling services I found out about, group therapy at Stepping Stones, recreational fitness groups who get together for a regular game of basket or volleyball, walking group, cooking classes, and heaps of other fun activities and vocational training support services. It was a tremendous month of networking and mingling with some most inspiring people in their own element. With prior consent I took a lot of photos to put together an album to show our Deaf clients, and that really helps to convey information about how friendly the people are who are involved in each respective activity/ class/ service.

As the Deaf Language is quite different to English, and has its own grammar, a few of our clients struggle to read, so visual aids are far more effective for communicating the gist of what the venues are all about.

This was the main focus of the month and will in future years remain as a great complementary resource to the information I've collected regarding the finer details of each service. If I can put these resources in place they will hopefully effectively work towards eliminating the communication barriers, and the limited access that our clients may feel.

And a huge KAPAI to all of whom who I was fortunate to meet in the process.

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