The Collaborative Trust Update

Welcome to the latest edition of the Collaborative Update - we have a number of things to update you on this month:

Call for Abstracts Now Open For the Collaborative Trust Hui 2016!
Interactive Workshops (Submissions Close 1 December 2015) 
ePoster Presentations (Submissions Close 1 February 2016) 
Brief Research Presentations (Submissions Close 1 February) 

Click here to view newsletter

In this October 2015 issue:

• Message from Murray Edridge – Community Investment
  
• Community Investment Strategy up-date
  
• Child protection policies
  
• Safety checking phasing
  
• The workforce restriction and the Core Worker Exemption
  
• Modernising Child, Youth and Family
  
• Cross-Government Accreditation trials
  
• Launch of Kiribati Conceptual Framework to address family violence
  
• A call to men
  
• New Zealand ShakeOut
  
• Changes to Family Services Directory
  

Disability Connect is pleased to announce a new seminar in our range: Education Legal Issues. Click here to view the flier. Bookings essential, contact Disability Connect on 636-0351 or email admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz.

This seminar will be of interest to all families families raising a child with a disability, whether in mainstream or special school environments. Come along and learn about enrolment rights, decision processes around special education, processes around an ORS funding decline, requests to parents for teacher aide funding contributions, requests to parents for funding for student support at extra-curricular camps and activities, stand-downs, use of restraint, and much more.

 2015 - Education Legal Issues: A presentation by Nan Jensen, Quinlaw Hosted by Disability Connect

 West Auckland

Tuesday 13^th October 7-9pm
Integrated Neurological Rehabilitation Foundation, 2 Claude Brookes Drive (off Edmonton Road), Henderson

Central Auckland
Wednesday 14^th October 12:30-2:30pm
Independent Living Service, 14 Erson Ave, Royal Oak

Central Auckland
Wednesday 14^th October 7-9pm
Independent Living Service, 14 Erson Ave, Royal Oak

North Auckland
Wednesday 28^th October 7-9pm
YES Disability Resource Centre, 3 William Laurie Place, Albany

 

RSVP: 636-0351 or admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz

 

Who Should Attend:
The parents of disabled students who are concerned with the support entitlement for their child in New Zealand Schools. This seminar explores the following topics:

• Section 9 access to Special School, why is this legally required?
• Section 10 appeals to ORS decline
• Stand downs – under what conditions are they fair
• Clarifying responsibility for the student’s safety and welfare during travel between school and home
• Physical aggression and use of restraint
• Issue of school requests for funding contribution from parents (to help pay for teacher aide or resources)
• School camps and extra-curricular activities – requests from the school that parents pay/provide the support person to accompany that student
• Plus a range of other education legal issues

 

Nan Jensen – Barrister and Solicitor, Quinlaw
Nan has been involved in the disability sector since 1998, in governance, advisory, support parent, advocacy and employee capacities. Two of her four children are on the autism spectrum, and she decided to study law after taking a successful arbitration case against the Ministry of Education to retain ORRS funding for her son. She was admitted to the bar in 2012 and specialises in disability law. She lives in Te Kowhai near Hamilton with her husband, Søren, their children and their dog.

 

Lisa Martin
C.E.O.
Disability Connect
Parent & Family Resource Centre Inc. trading as Disability Connect
09 636 035109 636 0351
www.disabilityconnect.org.nz

Disability Connect is delighted to announce another two Work and Income support in Disability seminars at two locations - Henderson and Penrose. To book please contact us on 636-0351 or email admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz.

 Work & Income Support Seminars - For individuals and families raising a child with a disability

Disability Connect is running two seminars in Auckland to explore Work and Income supports related to disability. This seminar is hosted by Disability Connect and will be presented by Vaughan Dodd and colleagues (Work and Income Disability Advisors). Click here to view a pdf of the flier.

This free seminar will clearly explain the types of Work and Income supports which individuals may be eligible for if living with a disability or raising a child with a disability. Eligibility criteria will be explained – also whether particular supports are means tested or not, and income thresholds if they are.

The main Work and Income supports being discussed are:

• Supported Living Payment
• Accommodation Supplement
• Child Disability Allowance
• Disability Allowance
• Supported Living Payment – Care of Sick and Infirm

As Work and Income Disability Advisors these presenters cannot participate in personal discussions regarding individual’s circumstances – Disability Advisors liaise directly with frontline Work and Income staff. Their presentation will be broad and informational. Any questions or individual issues can be addressed to Disability Connect staff and we will endeavour to have your questions answered.

Tea/coffee and biscuits will be available from 30 minutes prior to the start of the seminar.

West Auckland
Thursday 15^th October (7-9pm)
Integrated Neurological Rehabilation Foundation, 2 Claude Brookes Drive (off Edmonton Road) Henderson

Central Auckland
Wednesday 21^th October (12.30-2.30pm)
Disability Connect Premises, 3b Olive Road, Penrose

To book please contact Disability Connect on phone (09) 636-0351(09) 636-0351 (09) 636-0351(09) 636-0351 or email admin@disabilityconnect.org.nz

 

Lisa Martin
C.E.O.
Disability Connect
Parent & Family Resource Centre Inc. trading as Disability Connect
09 636 035109 636 0351
www.disabilityconnect.org.nz

WHO/UNAIDS launch new standards to improve adolescent care

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/health-standards-adolescents/en/

6 October 2015 GENEVA - New Global Standards for quality health-care services for adolescents developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS aim to help countries improve the quality of adolescent health care.
Existing health services often fail the world’s adolescents (10-19-year-olds). Many adolescents who suffer from mental health disorders, substance use, poor nutrition, intentional injuries and chronic illness do not have access to critical prevention and care services. Meanwhile, many behaviours that have a lifelong impact on health begin in adolescence.

“These standards provide simple yet powerful steps that countries – both rich and poor – can immediately take to improve the health and wellbeing of their adolescents, reflecting the stronger focus on adolescents in the new Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health that was launched in New York in September,” says Dr Anthony Costello, Director of Maternal, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health at WHO.

Adolescents form a unique group, rapidly developing both physically and emotionally but are often dependent on their parents or guardians.  WHO and UNAIDS Global Standards for quality health-care services for adolescents recommend making services more “adolescent friendly”, providing free or low-cost consultations, and making medically accurate age-appropriate health information available. They also highlight the need for adolescents to be able to access services without necessarily having to make an appointment or requiring parental consent, safe in the knowledge that any consultation remains confidential, and certain that they will not experience discrimination.

“If we want to keep adolescents healthy, we have to treat them with respect,” says Dr  Costello. “Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to certain health issues.  The top three causes of death among adolescents are road traffic injuries, AIDS-related illnesses and suicide.
“AIDS is the leading cause of death among adolescents in Africa and the second primary cause of death among adolescents globally,” says Dr Mariângela Simão, Director of Rights, Gender, Prevention and Community Mobilization at UNAIDS.  “All adolescents, including key populations, have a right to the information and services that will empower them to protect themselves from HIV.”  

Not only is adolescence a period of life when people are particularly vulnerable to certain health issues, it is also a time when critical behaviours are shaped that will affect health in the future.  

“So many behaviours – healthy or unhealthy – that impact the rest of our lives begin in adolescence,” adds Dr Costello. “The health sector cannot stand there and tell people they are sick because of the ways they use tobacco and alcohol, and their attitudes to diet and exercise, if it does not do a better job of helping people develop healthy habits as adolescents.”

Pleased to share with you SAHM’s Adolescent Health News Roundup for September 18-24.

Sharing with you the latest youth-driven video collaboration from the UMHS Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI). 

 Youth from AHI’s Teen Advisory Council (TAC) created a three-minute video, “Drawing a Picture: Adolescent Centered Medical Homes”.  The video illustrates many of the ways that primary care practices and other health centers can make sure that their space is adolescent-friendly. Through whiteboard illustration by Karen Guan, an Ann Arbor high school student, local TAC members Clara, Brandon, Felipe, and Juli explain what makes them feel welcome when they go to the doctor’s office. This video allows healthcare professionals to hear directly from youth about some of their priorities for an adolescent centered medical home.

Please feel free to share this resource with providers and healthcare professionals in your community!

Members check out presentations on Transgender recently given by:

• Dr Simon Denny and Rachel Johnson - Centre for Youth Health (presentation located in Special Interest Group - Transgender). 

• Dr Vicki Shaw, Dr Simon Denny, & Dr Tania Pinfold - case studies, Youth 2012 report, and snapshot of region (presentation located in Resources - Youth Health Presentations

This is fascinating - the fall-out from the re-analysis of study 329 continues.

See this latest feature from the BMJ.

The Werry Centre is a national centre for infant, child and adolescent mental health, led by Dr Sally Merry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and situated within the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. It has three arms, namely research, teaching and workforce development. The centre is involved in the development and promotion of evidence-based approaches to healthcare as well as supporting clinical staff and services working with infants, child and adolescents throughout New Zealand.  

See Latest News for Mental Health