Changing Minds CEO Appointed to Permanent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
Changing Minds recently celebrated the appointment of our CEO, Taimi Allan, to the Board of the permanent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
The Government established an independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission as part of its response to He Ara Oranga: Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (He Ara Oranga) in February this year.
The Commission’s purpose is to provide system-level oversight of mental health and wellbeing in New Zealand, and to hold the current government and other decision makers to account for the mental health and wellbeing of people in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Taimi will perform a dual role as both CEO for Changing Minds, and as a Commissioner. While her work for the Commission brings an important and much-needed lived-experience perspective to the Board’s work, Changing Minds will remain independent from the Commission and its spokespeople.
Supporting her on the day were Changing Minds Kaumatua George Hill, Board Chair Anne Bateman, and Board Member Adrienne Kennedy, Operations Director Ally Fagan as well as Taimi’s husband and daughter.
In her speech at the official pōwhiri at Pipitea Marae, Taimi said: “In joining the Commission, I don’t just bring my story. I stand here with and beside the thousands who gift us their stories and wisdom to use as tools to ensure their pain does not repeat, and that they are flourishing because of, not despite, their challenges.”
The other Commission Board Members bring a wealth of knowledge in mental health and wellbeing, as well as governance experience, to the table. They are chaired by Hayden Wano, who said: “The new Board is committed to pressing forward and continuing to advocate for a holistic wellbeing approach to be embedded across all Government services, the community sectors, and the wider system,” he says.
Mr Wano also shared that people with lived experience, whānau, communities, and priority groups will be at the centre of everything the Commission does.
“Understanding that transformation will require everyone working together to achieve our goal of better and equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for all people in Aotearoa, we pledge ourselves as a Board to leading by example,” he shared.
Outgoing Mental Health Commissioner, Kevin Allan, from the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC), acknowledged the passing of monitoring mental health and addiction services and advocating for their improvement to the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
“I strongly support the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. It will play a vital role in making sure that change happens, people across New Zealand can get the mental health and addiction support they need, and outcomes are equitable,” he said.
Consumers are advised that the HDC will continue to act as an independent watchdog for people’s rights when using health and disability services, resolving complaints, and holding providers to account for improving their practices at an individual and system-wide level.
People who want to make a complaint about the care they or others have experienced at a mental health and addiction service should still contact the HDC.
What is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission?
The permanent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will perform a broad role in transforming Aotearoa New Zealand’s approach to mental health and wellbeing, contribute to better and more equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for all people in New Zealand.
The Commission will play an important role in ensuring the voices and perspectives of priority populations, such as tangata whenua, Pasifika peoples, refugees and migrants, Rainbow communities, rural communities, disabled people, veterans, prisoners, young people, older people, children experiencing adverse childhood events, and children in state care, are heard.
It will also look at how services and systems can improve the wellbeing of people living with mental distress and/or addiction, and their whānau.
Click here to read Taimi’s full inauguration speech at the powhiri.
Photo caption: The inaugural Board of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. L to R: Dr Jemaima Tiatia-Seath, Sunny Collings, Kevin Hague, Hayden Wano, Taimi Allan, and Alexander El Amanni.