Te Haika is a Mental Health Contact Centre which manages mental health crisis calls, general mental health enquiries and is the central point for all referrals to Capital & Coast DHB Mental Health Services.
We are staffed by a team of experienced Mental Health Clinicians and are available 24 hours daily.
Our service provides the following:
- Facilitates access to Acute (Crisis) Mental Health Services via CATT (Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team) Tel: 0800 745 477
- Mental Health Advice and phone support (to clients, family, friends, colleagues and primary care services)
- Facilitates Specialist Phone consultations for General Practitioners
- Facilitates access to Specialist Mental Health services
-
- Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
- Community Alcohol and Drug Service (CADS)
- Maori Mental Health Service (Te Whare Marie)
- Health Pasifika
- Booking clients into Choice appointments at Adult Community Mental Health Teams
- Referral to other appropriate services
-
- Other Specialist Mental Health Services
- Primary Mental Health and Addiction Services
Capital & Coast DHB Catchment Area extends from Wellington South through to Pekapeka in the North and our service facilitates access to mental health services across the Wellington region (Kapiti, Porirua, Wellington).
Who can refer:
- Self referrals
- Parents and caregivers
- Family members
- Friends
- GPs
- Medical Specialists
- Community Counsellors & Psychologists
- Educators
- Any person who is concerned about the mental health of another person.
You may be referred to a mental health service by your GP or another primary care provider if your symptoms are moderate-severe and are impacting on your daily living.
Please let us know if you have any special needs which we should be aware of, for example if you have any sight or hearing impairment, or need an interpreter.
Should you have specific cultural requirements, you can advise us if you or your family/whanau wish to speak with a Maori Mental Health Worker or any other cultural specialist.
CAMHS and Adult Community Mental Health Team:
The first appointment with these services is called a Choice appointment. The focus of the Choice appointment will be to clarify your needs and see if a mental health team is the most appropriate service to meet your requirements.
In the Choice appointment we hope to, in partnership with you and your support people (with your consent):
- Identify the concerns you and others have about your current situation and discuss your thoughts about what might help with these concerns
- Develop a short-term plan of action steps aimed at reducing the concerns
- Discuss options available for treatment that may include services within Capital and Coast Mental Health Services or services available within your local community.
Typically, a Choice appointment will last up to one hour. However, we can decide at the initial appointment if we need to meet another time. Feel free to bring a support person(s) to your Choice appointment. If you are choosing to bring more than one person can you please let us know so that we can ensure the facility booked is adequate.
If you cannot attend the appointment, kindly give the Community Mental Health Service 24 hours notice.
If ongoing support from mental health is most appropriate for you, you will be allocated a clinician who has the best skills to support your needs. This is unlikely to be the person who has seen you at your Choice appointment.
If the situation becomes more urgent prior to your Choice appointment please contact us on: 0800 745 477
What is Mental Illness?
Mental illness is a clinically significant behaviour or psychological (to do with the mind) disorder that is associated with distress or disability. It is not just the way someone responds to a particular event nor is it limited to the way a person interacts with society.
A mental illness can continuously or intermittently (occasionally) affect our capacity for speech, language, mood, affect, thoughts, perceptions, insight, judgement, cognition (understanding) and volition (ability to make choices). It can limit our ability to function as society would normally expect of us and can put us and others at risk.
Mental illness is therefore, a broad term that covers problems ranging from minor to severe disorders.