Student social worker Carlo Gage, Te
Pou Kōkiri Terehia Herewini- Kira, student
Ronnica Lesā and Clinical Psychologist
Mandy Thacker.
Voyagers Te Kaumoana o Ruamano
team update
By Glenda Gillgren, Clinical Team Leader.
In recent weeks we’ve welcomed a few new
faces to our team providing community mental
health support for children and young people in
the Eastern Bay.
Mandy Thacker – Clinical Psychologist
Mandy joined the team at the end of August having moved to
Whakatāne from South Africa with her partner and pre-schooler.
She has worked in child and adolescent mental health for more
than a decade, most recently in a school setting as well as private
practice. Mandy says the outdoor lifestyle is what’s attracted her
and her family to the Eastern Bay. Plus the desire to raise their
daughter in a multicultural society.
Terehia (Missy) Herewini-Kira – Te Pou Kōkiri
Missy has a long history of supporting people in health, having first
started working at Whakatāne Hospital in the 1970s. She started
working in the Voyagers team in August.
As Te Pou Kōkiri, Missy supports the cultural needs of urihaumate
and their whānau, supporting an approach that integrates cultural
care and clinical care delivery, under the traditional model of
practice 'Nga Pou Mana o Io'.
Carlo Gage – Student Social Worker
As Checkup went to print, Carlo was six weeks into a 12 week
placement at Voyagers. Carlo is in his third year of a social
work degree at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. He has a
Rongoā Diploma (traditional Māori medicine) and a wealth of life
experience. Carlo says he chose his study path as he wanted to
work with tamariki. “Te Ao Hurihuri, it’s a changing world, I’ve seen
the damage done by drugs and addictions.” Carlo says he wants
to be there for tamariki, a role model, supporting them to live a
healthy life.
Ronnica Lesā – Student Social Worker
Ronnica is the first student social worker from the Whakatāne
based Rural Health Interprofessional Programme (RHIP) to be on
placement at Voyagers. RHIP is a joint student placement initiative
between the BOPDHB Clinical School, the University of Auckland
and Health Workforce New Zealand designed to attract and retain
health professionals in rural New Zealand.
The five week RHIP programme brings together students from a
range of health disciplines including medicine, nursing, pharmacy,
physiotherapy, social work, paramedicine, speech pathology,
midwifery, occupational therapy and podiatry. The students live
together in student accommodation and learn together looking at
health through a rural lens.
For Ronnica who was raised in Auckland, it was the first time
she’d be on placement in a mental health service and the first
time she’d been to Whakatāne. At Voyagers she’s been involved
in assessments, home visits to clients with her supervisor and
involved in a mental wellbeing resilience programme at a local
primary school.
Ronnica says the experience has really confirmed her passion to
work with families and youth, particularly Pacific people and Māori,
in a community setting.
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