OUR KAUPAPA

TINO RANGATIRATANGA

• Whānau-led process of support, engaging in collaborative goal-setting and shared problem-solving
• Support the whānau’s choice and participation, and their right to informed decision making
• Practitioners work towards providing emotional safety and a sense of acceptance, openness, compassion, humility and authenticity so that whānau can activate their own learning and problem-solving
• Incorporate the child’s goals into the whānau’s daily routines and activities

 
TAONGA TUKU IHO

• Acknowledge personhood – every person comes with their unique intergenerational experiences, relational capacity, strengths, communication & learning style and sensory preferences. Take your time to learn about and understand each child, whānau and team member
• Mana – protect dignity and respect of the child, whānau and team  
• Cultural practices of all participants are valued, acknowledged and included

AKO

• Adopt a stance of reciprocal learning, reflection and sharing knowledge with humility. Understanding that all present are equal participants and believing that each person wants to be the best they can be
• Think together with caregivers to see the child they see and support whānau to activate their own problem-solving
•  Practitioners learn to tune into their own internal state and be curious about their emotions, unconscious beliefs, constructs and triggers

KIA PIKI AKE I NGĀ RARURARU O TE KAINGA

• Equity – meeting whānau where they are at and mitigating the impact of socioeconomic disadvantages and limited access to resources. Linking whānau to other supports around housing and income. Providing transport, kai, childcare and hospitality during the parenting programmes. Offering day and night programmes to cater for all needs.
• Support parents’ mental health and wellbeing  and address grief, loss and isolation by supporting connection and shared experiences with other whānau through the parenting programmes
• Support attuned parent-child interactions with an understanding that attachment forms from attunement

​WHĀNAU

• Understand that when the whānau feels valued and supported, the same process is reflected in the caregiver-child relationship. Similarly, when the practitioner feels valued and supported, the same process is reflected in the practitioner-whānau relationship
• Whakawhanaungatanga - Take your time with each whānau to get to know one another and to establish meaningful, reciprocal relationships through mutual cultural respect, connectedness and engagement. Understand that whānau and practitioners can activate their own relational and learning capacity when there is a felt sense of emotional safety.
• Manaakitanga - Build a collaborative partnership with the whānau and be responsive and flexible with your support

 
KAUPAPA

• Adopt an ecological lens to understand each child within a wider ecosystem of their whānau, community, supports and stressors. Draw ecomaps to get a shared visual picture of the macrosystem. Understand the impact of historical and current trauma of indigenous people.
• Underlying belief that all parents want to be the best they can be, and change is possible for all of us
• Mitigate the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage and limited access to resources
• Adopt an ecological lens for yourself as being part of a team, an organisation, a community and a wider network of professionals and support services and aim to integrate services across the network of support for the whānau

 
TE TIRITI O WAITANGI

• Understand the impact of historical and current trauma of indigenous people.

Advocate for respectful relationships that honour partnership and protection

• Align your professional knowledge and developmental guidance with whānau and cultural preferences, strengths, beliefs, values and attitudes

 
ĀTA

• Work at the right pace with each whānau; communicate effectively and repair ruptures in the relationship
• Adopt a trauma-informed lens - understand that emotional safety and an empathic abiding presence are critical elements for healing and openness to change.
• Engage in deep and reflective listening with acceptance. Notice body language and breathing patterns. Pay attention to caregivers’ voice, tone, language, verbal patterns. Hold, validate, explore, and contain emotions.
• Practice mindful self-regulation so that you have presence, authenticity and attuned interactions with the whānau. Understand that when there is co-regulation, parents are able to access their natural resilience and resources.
• Develop self-compassion and treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding that we would offer to others. 

SUPPORTING THE PRACTITIONER

​ROUTINES BASED EARLY INTERVENTION        (McWilliams, 2009)

• Early Intervention in Natural Environments: understanding that children learn throughout the day and that generalisation occurs better in natural settings not from isolated therapy sessions
• The Routines Based Interview (RBI) is undertaken to understand how the child and whānau function in everyday routines and activities, child and whānau strengths as well as challenges and priorities.  The information guides the writing of functional outcomes for individual children and their whānau. Caregivers own the goals and the goals are incorporated into the whānau’s routines and activities.
• Understanding that the child is part of a wider ecosystem. Ecomaps are drawn with the whānau to understand the wider whānau and community context, the support systems and stressors
• Support is aligned with whānau resources, activities, strengths and preferences
• Understanding that the practitioner is also part of a larger ecosystem of support and working towards integrating the services for the whānau

 
MY WORKING WORLD    (https://www.whatittakes.org.nz/)

• An integrated framework for building empathy-guided partnerships with whānau and the team supporting the child and whānau
• Monthly group supervision sessions provide opportunities for practitioners to reflect on their relationships with one another and with whānau
  • Compassion, mutual trust and respect at our core
  • Engage in active and reflective listening
  • Whānau-led process of support, engage in collaborative goal-setting, shared problem-solving
  • Bring technical skills – professional knowledge, developmental guidance
  • Support choice and participation - informed decision making, use existing strengths, abilities and resources, be responsive and flexible with our support
  • Be sensitive to individual and cultural strengths, beliefs, values and attitudes
  • Communicate effectively, have courageous conversations when needed
  • Acknowledge and repair ruptures in relationships
  • Purposeful partnership – mutually agreed goals; work together to achieve outcomes; openly repair ruptures in relationships; mutual trust and respect
• Practical tools
  • Reflective practice cards
    • Helps practitioners reflect on their practice and their relationship with whānau. Provides opportunities to raise concerns and celebrate successes
  • Thinking caps
    • Structured process to reflect on challenging situations, ethical dilemmas
    • Opportunity to empathise from different perspectives
    • Supportive conversation to create empathy, reduce distress and activate thinking
    • Can be used with peers and as a whole group
    • Brings in strengths of individual team members
  • Quick wins
    • Structured process to support the whānau to break down big goals into smaller, achievable time-framed steps
  • Storm riding
    • Suspend the planned focus of a visit and use an explicit process to support whānau with problem-solving and emotional coping
    • Reflect on the coping strategies used so that whānau can use them as they need them
  • Journey map
    • Visual tool for whānau to understand our Kaupapa and the early support journey
  • Kōrero cards
    • The practitioner and caregiver use the prompt cards to review and reflect on their relationship

 
 
COMPASSIONATE INQUIRY (CI)      (https://compassionateinquiry.com)

• The ultimate goal of CI is to release the hold of unconscious patterns, beliefs and past experiences leading to greater self-awareness, authenticity and freedom. Exploration of inner experiences and suppressed memories through reflective questions and observations. Focus on the 'why' behind behaviours and beliefs in the context of trauma, addictions and mental health challenges. Integration of mind and body to support people to connect with physical sensations and emotions
• Understand the impact of historic and current trauma
• Aim for empathic abiding presence and safety as crucial elements for healing when supporting whānau
• Listen deeply to caregiver’s voice, tone, language, verbal patterns and notice body language and breathing patterns
• Listen deeply to understand what’s important to the whānau without making any assumptions or moving to solutions
• Be curious about our own unconscious beliefs and patterns that may be driving our behaviours and attitudes
• Pay attention to our own body and reactions and attune to our own triggers
• Develop self-compassion and treat ourselves with the same kindness and understanding that we would offer to others. 

 
 
FACILITATING ATTUNED INTERACTIONS (FAN)         (https://www.erikson.edu)

• Foster attuned interactions that strengthen practitioner -parent relationships and, in turn, parent-child relationships
• Understand that people need to feel connected and understood in order to access their natural resilience and resources and be open to change
• Cultivate mindful self-regulation, presence and attunement and move to where caregivers need us to go (see FAN model)
• Create emotional safety through deep listening with acceptance. Hold, validate, explore and contain emotions (empathic inquiry)
• Think together with caregivers to see the child they see (collaborative exploration)
• Support parents to increase capacity and confidence and thereby strengthen the caregiver-child relationship  (capacity building)
• Build a coherent narrative to integrate the information (integration)

SUPPORTING WHĀNAU THROUGH PARENTING PROGRAMMES

Parenting programme play an important role in supporting parents’ mental health and wellbeing by facilitating connection and shared experiences with other whānau. They also focus on supporting the child’s development by strengthening the parent-child relationship.
 
MELLOW ABILITY  (www.mellowparenting.org)

• 14-week group programme focused on supporting parents and their children with additional needs to enjoy resilient, emotionally thriving lives.
• Includes group sessions and parent-child activity days
• Parents share their life stories and whānau experiences in a supportive environment
• Understand the cycle of emotions associated with grief, loss and adjustment
• Reduces social isolation and added stress, especially within whānau relationships
• Supports children to be part of a safe and nurturing whānau
• Personal and parenting topics are covered
• Practical information and discussions about play, communication, safety, sensory issues, attuned interactions, supporting siblings, accessing support and planning for the future
• Opportunities for parents and children to come together as a bigger group and try out new ways of relating to their child
• Parents are supported to read and sensitively respond to cues from their child and to recognise fleeting moments of positive interaction
• Supports parents to think about self-care and find joy in their lives
• Supports parents to have dreams for themselves and their children and to proactively shape their children’s future

 
HANEN MORE THAN WORDS (www.hanen.org)
 
13-week programme involving group sessions and home visits with a focus on supporting parents to expand their child’s social communication skills

• Supports parents to understand their child’s unique interests, strengths and sensory preferences and draw up individualized learning plans
• Follows a naturalistic approach focusing on the whānau’s everyday routines and activities with an emphasis on fun interactions
• Video-based coaching in the home environment to provide parents with personalised guidance and support to use the strategies they are learning about in the group sessions
• Group sessions provide opportunities to connect with other whānau, share experiences and learn together.