From Ken’s Desk April 2012

It is amazing that we are now at the end of the first quarter of 2012. Since we came back from the Christmas holidays and summer break our HMA training team has:

• delivered 102 days of in-room training
• taken 75 flights to destinations as far away as Singapore and Perth, from Auckland to Invercargill
• sponsored and run the second International Symposium on Motivational Interviewing in Auckland during March
• delivered the 10 week criminogenic programme as part of intervention for high risk youth offenders at Te Puna Wai
• started to deliver our short course programme for 2012 (www.hma.co.nz/workshops)
• HMA staff have also been heavily involved in leading the development of a new motivational interviewing training DVD with will be available around June 2012
• Invested a huge amount of behind-the-scenes work on our learning platform where people will be able to access online learning using self-paced materials.

So you can imagine we all enjoyed a really good break over Easter. This of course coincided in New Zealand with school holidays which means a great time for connecting up and spending quality time. We always recognise that in order to maintain such a pace of activity that there are a team of people who stand behind us and allow this to occur. Thanks to our families for freeing us to make the contribution in the public world that we do.

The end of the first quarter also sees three changes to our team. Mark Tisdall who has been an associate with HMA for the past 10 years has taken a fixed term appointment with Department of Corrections doing development work. Julie Pullman is the other change to the team, she is now working as a regional learning and development adviser for Corrections. It is always nice to know that the quality of our people are sought after by the systems that we consult with. We thank them both for a wonderful contribution to our team. We also welcome Brinley McIntosh to our team as our intern. Brinley is completing the postgraduate Diploma in Child and Family at University of Canterbury and has been working alongside Matt running the high risk youth offenders programme at Te Puna Wai.

Some of you may be aware that I have started writing a regular blog on both contemporary issues and training ideas. We have recognised for some time that we have a huge amount of information and ideas around clinical practice that we know are valuable and worth sharing with a wider audience. You can sign up to our blog and contribute your own ideas as well. We are keen to make this a collaborative learning event. We have also started work on a practice book around contemporary interventions around family violence. Rather than a chapter book which we have published several of over the past few years, this one will be a combination of contemporary theory and practice ideas that promote family safety. It will be very hands-on and full of practical intervention ideas that workers will be able to utilise.

We have  finally got resolution around the demolition of our building in Cashel Street, Christchurch. For some of you who don’t know the back story around the drama, we have experienced a series of major earthquakes to Christchurch over the past 12 months and we have been in negotiation with the insurers to settle our claim. Demolition begins on 8 April 2012 and should be completed within a three month period. Once that is completed we will be in a position to know what financial losses we are likely to have sustained. I must say that this extraordinary event has certainly tested my endurance and capacity for creative solutions.

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