One of several projects was to implement a review of the AOD Practitioner Competencies to support competence in working with Justice clients. The Executive agreed:

• To review existing competencies and, as identified, to incorporate competencies for effective and safe interventions by treatment services for offenders with addiction
• To identify competencies specific to working with offenders
• To provide an interim supplement to the current DAPAANZ Practitioner Competencies
• To inform DAPAANZ of the Real Skills – Let’s Get Real - competencies
• To commence a review of the DAPAANZ Competencies which identifies work to be undertaken to ensure connection with Real Skills and other recent competency documents within this project timeframe
• To identify and make recommendations for further work to be undertaken in reviewing the DAPAANZ competencies.

Two problem gambling specific papers are being offered in collaboration with the Problem Gambling Foundation 2008:

Presenting Populations in Gambling

This paper reviews populations most at risk of gambling related harms and identifies the special needs, pressures, and strategies to minimise gambling related harm within these populations. It also examines the impact of new technologies on gambling populations.

The paper is offered over five days - Thursday 28th August, Friday 29th August, Wednesday 3rd September, Thursday 4th September and Friday 5th September.

These papers will be taught by:

Dr Kawshi De Silva, Public Health Director
Cynthia Orme, Director of Clinical Services
Dr Phil Townsend, Director of Research

TUPU carried the day in the 2007 DAPAANZ Award for best clinical presentation at the 2007 Cutting Edge Combined conference in Auckland. There were several presenters running neck and neck right to the final stream session when those Pacific folks from Waitemata DHB, simply swept the board with their exuberance, sadness and music in portraying a Pacific experience of addiction. In future, Pacific presenters must refrain from exuberance, sadness and music to allow palangi a chance. Congratulations to all at TUPU.

Membership and Registration Renewal

Expired on 31st March for the 2008 year. So hurry, the Secretary is still trying to complete his tasks for February, so you might be lucky.

Applications for registration from newly arrived practitioners from overseas

The Executive has decided that newly arrived practitioners from overseas who can meet the competencies, apart from those on the Treaty, working with Maori, and working with Pacific should be endorsed as an Associate AOD Practitioner until they can produce evidence of these Aotearoa-specific competencies. Associate AOD Practitioners should not practise independently, but under the oversight of a Registered AOD Practitioner.

2009 school of addiction

DAPAANZ and Dr Joel Porter of PCMC have signed an agreement to co-host the 2009 School of Addiction. This biennial three day school for experienced practitioners will prepare to be relevant to current clinical needs and will be designed to develop skills and learning. It will be held in the late summer. News will be posted on the DAPAANZ and other strange websites.

The Health Protection Competence Assurance Act

Dr David Chaplow from the Ministry has announced that the restricting clause from the Act: Performing a psychosocial intervention with an expectation of treating a serious mental illness, without the approval of a registered health practitioner will have been removed from the regulations by next Friday. Then the involved sectors, including DAPAANZ, will be invited to assist in replacing that phrase with one that will protect the people and which values the expertise of our workforce.

So our continuing advocacy, supported by Matua Raki, NCAT, NAC, and Jenny Wolf et al within the Ministry has won through.

Now the NZAC has decided to move on with its development of a proposal to bring its membership in under the Act. DAPAANZ now finds itself in the position of moving to its next step.

The Review of the Act is currently underway and may lead to changes, but as it stands DAPAANZ really needs to submit a “blended” application with a larger allied association. A “blended” application allows for one registration board but separate registration processes. This would allow the AOD sector to keep its own scope of practice and separate from others, while the Board may manage the differing practises of more than one scope of practice.

In our case, it is the NZ Association of Counsellors with whom the Executive has been talking. NZAC has now been mandated by its membership to develop an application to bring it under the Act. In April, Tim Harding and Wolfgang Theuerkauf meet with representatives of NZAC to explore a “blended” application.

While there are very good reasons to bring the AOD sector under the Act, it can also be argued that DAPAANZ has operated as a de facto Board of Registration and with its mandate to do this being accepted by almost all employers, it does raise the question of why go under the Act with its implications of losing control to a Ministry appointed Board and increased fees to pay for it.

The decision whether to proceed with an application will need a mandate from the membership. If the pace of the negotiations picks up this year, the bringing of the application to the membership for mandate should happen within twelve months.

Review of AOD Competencies

A project has been scoped by the Ministry of Health to support DAPAANZ and the addiction sector to review and adapt the existing Practitioner Competencies to align with Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice Effective Intervention initiatives.

It means a review of the AOD Practitioner Competencies to support competence in working with Justice clients:

• To review existing competencies and, as identified, to incorporate competencies for effective and safe interventions by treatment services for offenders with addiction
• To identify competencies specific to working with offenders
• To provide an interim supplement to the current DAPAANZ Practitioner Competencies
• To inform DAPAANZ of the Real Skills – Let’s Get Real - competencies
• To commence a review of the DAPAANZ Competencies which identifies work to be undertaken to ensure connection with Real Skills and other recent competency documents within this project timeframe
• To identify and make recommendations for further work to be undertaken in reviewing the DAPAANZ competencies.

This project is part of The First Steps Programme (MOJ/MOH) which contains twelve projects in three distinct settings:

Police setting • Review of Rotorua watch-house pilot
• Implementation of enhanced pilots at two metropolitan sites

Courts setting • AOD clinicians in up to two District Courts in major metropolitan areas
• Judicial monitoring of offenders
• Examination of overseas Court diversion programmes
• Review of existing health services to Youth Courts provided by three DHBs
• Pilot of mental health clinician with AOD experience in Youth Courts

Corrections setting • Specialist AOD offender team
• Additional AOD treatment services for offenders on community-based sentences
• Feasibility study of establishing additional AOD services for offenders in the lower North Island
• Evaluation of AOD treatment programmes delivered to Māori
• Feasibility study on dual-diagnosis community treatment programme for Women offenders

. Additionally, there are various accelerated health workforce development projects:

Health Workforce Development • Scholarships/bursaries
• Field secondments
• Internships
• Review of DAPAANZ core competencies
• Year One review
• Training – mobile workforce team basic
• Training – intermediate
• Training – specialist
Data Development • Development of data on mental health and AOD treatment needs of offenders, and provision of relevant services.

Te Rau Matatini, working closely with Matua Raki, has been contracted by the Ministry of Health to develop an Accelerated Workforce Development Programme. This programme stems from the Effective Intervention range of interventions which aims to improve health outcomes for those who have been, or are currently, involved with the Justice system and have AOD and mental health issues.

The Effective Intervention projects involve a series of accelerated workforce initiatives, including the development of secondments, scholarships and internships, for which Te Rau Matatini is responsible, and the development and establishment of mobile training teams and intermediate and specialist AOD training programmes for which Te Rau Matatini and Matua Raki are jointly responsible.

And now with this initiative is a review of Practitioner Competencies for Alcohol & Drug Workers in Aotearoa – New Zealand, led by DAPAANZ and supported by Matua Raki.

b. In January/February invoices go to membership.

c. Second invoice goes to unpaid members in April.

d. Reminders in each Bulletin.

e. Final bulletin of the year includes a personal reminder to unpaid members and warning of expired membership.

f. In November/December, unpaid members put on expired register.

g. Members renewing after having “expired” to pay any unpaid fees.

h. Registered competent practitioners will be suspended at 1 year unpaid and de-registered at 2 years.

Unpaid registered practitioners names on the website.

i. All registered practitioners who have not paid the current year’s fees by the 1st of April of the year will have their names removed from the list of registered practitioners on the website.

j. A separate list of unpaid practitioners will be kept. At the end of the year, those still unpaid will have their registration suspended.

k. At the end of two years their registration will be removed.

TENA KOUTOU, TALOFA LAVA, GREETINGS TO ALL PAST AND POTENTIAL STUDENTS.

The Moana House Training Institute will once again present their popular Te Aka and Te Rea Drug and Alcohol training in 2008 for workers of all ethnicities in the AOD field.

But the presentation will differ slightly next year - the course is now of two years duration – the training for both Te Aka and Te Rea will be combined and will take place on six (6) three day workshops throughout the year. Some of the teaching will be done together, but most of it will take place in separate streams according to the year of study you are in.

The DAPAANZ competencies you are able to receive on successful completion of the two year programme, will be the following -
4.1 Relating and Communicating; 5.2 Intervention Management; 5.6 Consultation and Liaison; 4.2 Critical Thinking; 4.3 Professional Responsibility/Ethical Practice; 3.4 Social Justice; 3.3 People of Other Cultures; 5.1 Assessment and Intervention Planning; 5.4 Working with Communities; 5.5 Public Education; 5.3 Working with Therapeutic Groups, Families, and significant networks.

As always, these waananga are taught in a bicultural noho marae setting and will take place in Dunedin on the following dates –

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays on:

March 13th–15th; April 10th–12th; May 22nd–24th
June 19th–21st; August 21st-23rd; September 25th–27th

Tutors are Paraire Huata, Claire Aitken, and Sean Manning. They will be joined by guest presenters in specialised topics at times throughout your training.

You will need to commit to attending all waananga, and to spending at least 10 hours per week for study, assignments, and reading. A caseload, or access to clients, is necessary, as the course is practice focussed.

The cost is $2,500 GST exclusive. The purchase of required texts is not included in that cost.

The Moana House Training Institute is applying to NZQA for local course approval for Te Aka/Te Rea. If successful, this will mean you should be able to access a student loan.