Addiction workforce development in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This article provides an overview of addiction workforce development in Aotearoa New Zealand. Workforce development and workforce planning in the Aotearoa New Zealand context are briefly defined and followed by what the author believes are four noteworthy components of the New Zealand situation. The article addresses how Dapaanz (the addiction practitioners association and registering body); Matua Raki (the addiction workforce development programme); the role of lived experience and recovery, and the Māori addiction workforce have been instrumental in the development of New Zealand’s unique addiction sector.

Keywords:

• Workforce development
• addiction
• New Zealand

Notes

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1. Māori (indigenous people) name for New Zealand.

2. Pasifika refers to those peoples who have migrated from Pacific nations and territories. It also refers to the New Zealand-based (and born) population, who identify as Pasifika, via ancestry or descent.

3. Whānau refers to an extended family and/or community of people traditionally connected by a common ancestor but in contemporary times can be connected through a common “cause or purpose”.

4. The Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement, in Māori and English that was made between the British Crown and about 540 Māori rangatira (chiefs) in Waitangi in 1840.

5. Term used to describe New Zealanders who are “of European descent”.

6. Local people, hosts, indigenous people of the land.

7. Leaders and elders.

8. Māori customs, lore, correct procedure, rules, and guidelines.

9. Kaupapa Māori services refer to services that take a Māori way of being and knowing approach to health and wellness.