Pānui #7: A final project update for 2025

Nau mai, welcome to our seventh pānui, where we will update you on the progress of the Te Kete Rongomau project. In this final pānui for the year, we have exciting news to share about our progress in implementing Mental Health Advance Preference Statement (MAPS) in Waikato and Lakes.

Progress with implementation

Implementation of the MAPS at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Lakes (Rotorua) and Waikato (Hamilton) continues, with several people from various mental health and community services now completing their MAPS. We have had strong support from communities and tāngata whaiora (person seeking wellness) and their whānau, who see MAP as an opportunity to have their will and treatment preferences recorded with the services.

We are now working to ensure the MAPS are integrated into the systems of specialist mental health services and will begin evaluating their uptake.

Our interviews with people who have created their MAPS are complete for phase 2 of the project. In this newsletter, we share recent presentations from various gatherings, where we discussed the process of developing MAPS resources and the experiences of those who created a MAP for themselves.

Please feel free to share our website with people you think may be interested. We have a ‘follow us’ section at the end of this pānui where you can sign up to receive updates, news, and invitations to our events. And, of course, the links to the MAPS resources at Lakes and Waikato are now live and available for use.

Connect to the Waikato MAPS page here: https://www.teketerongomau.com/waikatomaps

Connect to the Lakes MAPS page here: https://www.teketerongomau.com/lakesmaps

What was it like to fill out a MAPS?

We interviewed 25 people about their experiences creating a MAPS. Today, we share four broad themes generated from our analysis.

Theme 1: Being seen, heard and valued

All TW were pleased to have the opportunity to voice their opinions and preferences, many for the first time. It felt like a shift from having decisions made for them to having support to make their own.

“Yeah, that I am seen and heard. I'm just not. Sometimes, I think I've been seen as sort of a hypochondriac or overreacting to things, and I didn't ask for these conditions. I get really frustrated that I get so easily triggered. So that's kind of what I wanted to put in here, as much detail as I could, so that it makes sense to someone who could read it and go, 'oh, she might be experiencing this. How can I support her?'” (Tangata whaiora participant)

There was some concern that, even with a MAPS, things would not change, and they would again feel unheard and disrespected.

Theme 2: Very different questions There was a sense that MAPS posed a very different set of questions from those previously asked of tāngata whaiora.

“I mean, if they were to ask what kind of treatment, I really wouldn't know. That's what I'm going to see experts about. What do I need, or give me some advice so I can make an informed decision? Okay, that's what you offer. And then I can decide, well, is that for me or is it not? So that's really what I'm going there to see them about. What you need to tell me is what you offer, and then I can see if that would suit me on my journey.” (Tangata whaiora participant)

Many found the different set of questions refreshing but somewhat challenging to complete, requiring significant reflection.

Theme 3: More support to complete MAPS

Building on theme 2, many TW discussed needing more support to complete their MAPS. That could be with a peer or a trusted clinician.

“Probably a more in-depth run through what it actually was. It just seemed like a questionnaire to me that, yeah, obviously, covers how my experience was and stuff. It's kind of a picture I got.” (Tangata whai ora participant)

For example, when people completed their MAPS with the support worker, they brainstormed and identified together what might be relevant to them. Additional resources and FAQs to support this brainstorm would be useful.

Theme 4: A useful communication tool

There was some suggestion that MAPS are valuable not only when people are unwell but also as a general communication aid.

I thought it was good because it's your voice on the paper. It's what you are wanting. Well, yeah, it is what your thoughts are about it, and if you give it and it's in your file, if something happens, well then they've got it there, and it's black and white, it's there. Well, that's what I think. And I'm all for transparency.” (Tangata whaiora participant)

This means MAPS could be helpful for a wide range of contexts that tāngata whaiora choose.

All participants have consented to the submission of their completed MAPS to the research and to being contacted again if their MAPS are activated/used in inpatient services (Phase 3 of this project).

The most critical consequence of implementation in services is for tāngata whaiora when their MAPS are not accessible, followed, or respected.

Presenting our progress

We have also presented our progress at several events in the second half of 2025.

Debbie, Maryanne, Ty, Tony, and Katey discussed our collaboration with the community to create the MAPS resources at the Waikato Mental Health and Addictions Day. This was an excellent opportunity to share with a diverse group of clinicians, researchers and tāngata whaiora about what MAPS are and how they are now becoming part of Waikato and Lakes mental health and addiction services. We are grateful to Dave Snell for organising this event and hearing from other fantastic speakers.

Sarah, Johnnie and Debbie also presented two presentations on Te Kete Rongomau at the Service User in Academia conference online. Johnnie said, "It is such an honour to give light to a framework that reflects Māori self-determination over resources, and upholds our responsibilities to implement Indigenous solutions within Te Kete Rongomau." 

These presentations were recorded, and today we share Johnnie and Debbie's presentation on the project.

In the last few days, Sarah presented at the inaugural Disability, Law and Society conference online and shared an update on our progress. Below, you can open her slides; an audio overlay is enabled.

Presentation on Te Kete Rongomau at 2025 Research Conference of the Disability, Law and So.

Download • 42.27MB

Sarah explains that "it has been fabulous getting to this stage of the project, where we have lots of information and resources to disseminate. There seems to be genuine interest in what we are presenting, and this is reinforced by the foot traffic we are seeing through the website. Notably, we recently had a couple of papers accepted and hope they will be published soon, so we can share them with you as well." 

Wishing Rachel and Cindy all the best

We recently said goodbye to Rachel and Cindy, who have moved on to new work adventures here in Aotearoa and overseas.

Katey comments: "Rachel has been the glue that has held this project together, and her passion for MAPS and for supporting tāngata whaiora has been extraordinary. We will miss Rachel's enthusiasm and are glad she will stay connected to championing MAPS."

Cindy also left us early this year and contributed significantly to this project through her impeccable data-collection skills, which helped tāngata whai ora feel safe sharing their experiences creating a MAPS. Debbie added: Cindy was an awesome and valued addition to the team. She provided a friendly and professional approach in her research and connected well with tangata whaiora whom she interviewed. We will miss her thorough and empathic approach to the mahi.

Today, we extend our gratitude to Rachel and Cindy for their support of this kaupapa and wish them well on their journeys.

Next steps

All the MAPS tools and resources can be found on the website: https://www.teketerongomau.com/

We are still keen to collect completed MAPS with the informed consent of tāngata whaiora for analysis. We will remove identifying information before we analyse connections between different MAPS and new information to help us enhance our resources.

The final phase of our research aims to evaluate the impact of implementing and using MAPS on both service-level and individual-level outcomes. We will gather perspectives from tāngata whaiora, service users, whānau, family members, kaimahi, and clinicians. This approach is designed to assess the influence of MAPS on health, equity, and social and cultural benefits, with a particular focus on Māori. While we acknowledge that economic benefits are also a potential outcome, they will not be a primary focus of this phase of the project.

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We look forward to re-engaging with all of you soon and hearing about your experiences creating or using MAPS.

Meri Kirihimete, we wish you a relaxing summer with your whānau and friends,

Ka kite me noho ora mai