The signing of the agreement reflects how the three organizations are working together to achieve better outcomes for those who need help from addiction services.
Ngā Kete Mātauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust chief executive Tracey Wright-Tawha said it was a “great relationship with the police, who were able to refer to our service in real time and we can provide one-on-one guidance”.
“We can offer experiential learning activities, we can even do detox application work and help people…by having them on site as residential clients.”
Ngā Kete Mātauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust has been operating the Tūmanako Oranga Wellness Center since November, serving 30 active clients.
Of their three crisis units, “two are filled every week”.
Mike Bowman, Commander of Southland Police in New Zealand, said: “It's been a bit of a no man's land for the people who don't meet the threshold, so now we have some opportunities to think differently about how we can help them .”
Insp Bowman leads a team of police officers who carry out “referral transfers where someone who may have just been picked up by police” is encouraged to get some advice and access the services of the Tūmanako Oranga Wellness Centre.
“The memorandum of understanding has allowed our partnership to help people who are lost in the community, lost between agencies.
It's a great initiative and we've seen the results so far.”
Ms Wright-Tawha reiterated that the intention behind the Memorandum of Understanding was how the agencies would work together, taking into account the boundaries of each other's roles and their professional conduct at all times, and that they would be “greater together”.
“We need to have an ongoing dialogue so that we can work on a no-surprise basis and really amplify and layer all the principles of aroha, around working with each other, and it's a measure of pride for us as an agency,” Mrs Wright-Tawha said.
'We are a competent national government organization that works together with the Crown and the police.
“We walk a fine line between chaos and order and we want to be part of that solution for our community as well.”
Te Whatu Ora is the funding agency behind the operation of the Tūmanako Oranga Wellness Centre.
– By Nina Tapu