It is crucial to understand that trauma can impact how people engage with and respond to support.
Four Aotearoa New Zealand workforce development centres play a crucial role in equipping kaimahi (health workers), leaders and services so that tāngata whai ora and whānau have positive experiences and outcomes when accessing all health services. All these centres provide resources for kaimahi to support a trauma-informed approach.
Each centre supports various groups across the health workforce:
- Le Va supports services to enhance the cultural responsiveness of their workforce, and to grow and upskill Pasifika people so that services better reflect the populations they serve.
- Te Pou is a national workforce centre for mental health and addiction. Te Pou supports organisations with knowledge, resources, and implementation readiness. Te Pou supports the use of a trauma-informed approach through the Let’s get real framework with a focus on adult and whānau groups.
- Te Rau Ora support the people in services that design, develop, and deliver various aspects of Māori health in the community.
- Whāraurau provides training and support to the infant, child and adolescent mental health and addiction workforce.
The resources on this page reflect those provided by these workforce development centres to ensure you are directed to the resources most appropriate for your kaimahi.
On this page
Le Va workshops
Healing Centred Care for Pasifika
Healing Centred Care for Pasifika is a full day training that equips people with knowledge and skills for working with Pasifika who have may have experienced trauma. It has been developed for anyone working in Pasifika Access and Choice services (Primary Mental Health and Addictions) across Aotearoa. See workshop here.
Engaging Pasifika
Engaging Pasifika (EP) is Le Va’s cultural competency programme for non-Pacific health and disability workers at Ministry of Health-funded services. While EP is not exclusively trauma focused, it teaches fundamental skills to safely engage with Pasifika people and their families. See workshop here.
Te Rau Ora workshops
Pae Tata Pae Tawhiti
Pae Tata Pae Tawhiti is an indigenous trauma-informed approach focused on reducing the harm of alcohol and other drugs on whānau, hapu and iwi. See workshop here.
Whāraurau workshops
Whāraurau run courses throughout the year on a range of different trauma topics. See what is coming up here.
Le Va printed resources
Weaving together knowledge for wellbeing: Trauma informed approaches
Trauma-informed approaches focus on recognising and validating the trauma experiences of people and their potential to heal despite these experiences. Culture plays an integral role in how we respond to trauma, healing and support. View this resource.
Coping after a serious event like Christchurch
Many people in Christchurch and across New Zealand (and even the world) will experience distress such as acute stress reactions and horror following the fatalities in Christchurch – this is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Most people will manage, and the distress will subside over time. However, there will be some people that will have more profound reactions, particularly later on some time after the event, and will require assistance. See this resource here.
Te Pou hard copy resources
Weaving together knowledge for wellbeing
Weaving together knowledge for wellbeing is a resource on trauma informed approaches, recognising, understanding and responding to trauma in an informed way leads to positive outcomes for people and whānau in Aotearoa. See this resource here.
Videos
Rolling out the fala
Trauma-informed approaches focus on recognising and validating the trauma experiences of people and their potential to heal despite these experiences. Culture plays an integral role in how we respond to trauma, healing and support.
When working with Pasifika people in New Zealand, Le Va promotes a strengths-based approach aimed at holistic restoration of peoples’ wellbeing. We have produced this learning module to raise awareness of the effects of trauma and a trauma-informed approach, but specifically with a focus on a healing-centred approach when working with Pasifika people and families.
Ki Te Ao Mārama
In 2023 Whāraurau partnered with Te Pou, Te Rau Ora and Māoriland Productions to produce a short five-minute video called Ki Te Ao Mārama – Toward light, understanding and growing.
The video is aimed at helping people working with all mokopuna and whānau to understand the possible impacts of intergenerational trauma on hauora and to encourage them to lead with hope. Taking a Māori perspective, the video explores mauri (energy) as both a source and an indicator of wellbeing; suggesting simple ways we can help to shift this dynamic life force when it becomes blocked or caught in unhelpful patterns that may affect close loved ones for generations to come.
Te Pou e-learnings
Trauma-informed approaches
This e-learning is designed for the mental health and addiction workforce and other health workers wanting to enhance their trauma-informed knowledge and skills to apply in everyday practice. Topics include trauma in Aotearoa, trauma-informed approaches in health settings, trauma responsive approaches for working with people and whānau, and importantly, worker wellbeing. Other Let’s get real essential level e-learnings provide the basis for trauma-informed approaches. See all e-learning modules.
Whāraurau e-learnings
Childhood trauma – Impact on development and behaviour
This online course reviews childhood trauma from biological as well as cultural perspectives. See this e-learning module.
Trauma informed care for caregivers
This online course is about helping you to recognise trauma, its impact on children | tamariki and give you an understanding of what it means to be trauma-informed. It has been developed for caregivers (foster parents and whānau carers) of children | tamariki. See this e-learning module.
Trauma informed care for the children’s workforce
This online course is about understanding a trauma-informed system and recognising the indicators and impacts of trauma. See this e-learning module.
Self-care in trauma informed organisations
This online course is about how to safeguard your wellbeing. It aims to help you understand how trauma can affect people who support, protect and serve vulnerable children | tamariki and families | whānau. See this e-learning module.
See Trauma-informed approach: An update of the literature and summary here. This review aims to build on the evidence from previous literature on trauma-informed approaches with current evidence, with the objective of informing workforce development.
Te Rau Ora evidence
A national approach to Trauma Informed Care in Aotearoa New Zealand relevant to Māori (Indigenous people) must consider the effects of historical, cumulative, intergenerational and situational trauma. This literature review explores Māori specific cultural understandings to assist Trauma Informed Care for Māori relevant to service delivery, workforce responsiveness and aspects that will help facilitate implementation. See Trauma Informed Care for Māori here.
Other resources
Te Pou resources
See resources for working with people experiencing mental health and addiction needs here.
Whāraurau resources
Under the umbrella of Let’s get real, Whāraurau offers Real Skills Plus, which identifies the skills and knowledge needed to work with tamariki and taiohi who are experiencing mental health and/or alcohol and other drug issues. To access Real Skills Plus click here.
