Speaker 2 (00:00.568)
This podcast contains themes that may be upsetting to some listeners. Please listen with caution and look in the show notes for resources if you need some help.

Speaker 2 (00:16.536)
Kia ora, I'm Alexia Black, host of The Difference, the podcast for mental health and addiction support workers in Aotearoa. Each episode we dive into the real issues facing our workforce, from worker well-being and vicarious trauma to leadership and lived experience. You'll hear practical insights, inspiring stories and honest korero to help you feel connected, supported and empowered in your mahi. Let's get started.

Speaker 2 (00:46.542)
this episode we're talking to Tremaine Tauhinu. Tremaine came to community support work about 30 years ago following the deinstitutionalisation of Mangere Hospital. was born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, specifically South Auckland, Mangere East. He has recently made the shift from community support work to team leader at Māhi Tahi Trust and is valued member of our support work advisory group here at Te Pou.

Kia ora Tremaine. Kia ora. Welcome to The Difference. I know right. So Tremaine, you and I have had the pleasure of knowing each other now for a year and a half or so, with you being on our Support Worker Advisory Group. But for our listeners, do you want to introduce yourself a little bit?

excited.

Speaker 1 (01:29.652)
Absolutely. is Tremaine Tauhinu. I'm a father of five, grandfather of about... I don't need that number. I've been in this industry for a while now. I work for a beautiful trust called Mahitahi Trust. Been there for about eight years. I love my CSW work.

Passionate 100 % and I hope to bring more people into our mahi.

And for the people at home who aren't in the sector, what's the CSW?

A CSW is a community support worker who goes into the community to support our tangata whaeora to re-engage in the community. Tangata whaeora is the clients we look at, or as some people say, the patients. And now Kaupapa Trust, like to call them tangata whaeora.

And what is tongue to fire with?

Speaker 2 (02:25.614)
I think it translates to person seeking wellness or people seeking wellness. So how did you get into this work?

Well, I was roped into doing working as a residential support worker in the house. So I've done that kind of work for a long time. And one of the gentlemen wanted to do a swap in mahi. He wanted to come to work in the house and he wanted to come away from the community support worker. So I said, because I like the easiness of supporting our tangata wharero in the house. But I said, why not challenge myself? So I took the offer and I've never looked back.

And how did you get into mental health and addiction at all?

was actually not long after my wife died, I had left for a long time and I wanted to come back into mahi again. And it was mainly for not to work in the office because some of my background's in the office. So I thought, why don't I work in the houses? And I went back to my old job, but instead of working in the office, I was working in the houses. And a lot of the community support workers in the houses were going, aren't you the guy that was in the office? I said, yes, I am, but I wanted something different. And I loved that working in the houses. It was really refreshing and it made my mahi more real.

compared to just numbers and paper.

Speaker 2 (03:35.598)
Yeah, yeah. But you haven't stayed as a community support worker, have you? You've recently made a big change.

And I blame my team for that because yesterday I promoted to a TL in my team due to the fact that they advertised for new TL and my team...

Team leader, yeah. Sorry, family. That's all right. I know, there's so many acronyms on this sector, right? Yes, there is.

So my team said to me, look Tramaine, we don't want the stranger coming into our team. I said, okay then. So we looked at each other, but they all looked at me. You're the senior one in our group. Would you like to be our TL? I hummed in hard for a while because I was afraid to be away from my tangata whareora because I love my boys and I support them 100%. And I didn't want to lose that contact. But I took it because my team were thriving and then under our old team leader, so I thought, well, I'll continue the mahi. So yeah, I made the move to team lead.

And how's it bang?

Speaker 1 (04:27.982)
It's been wonderful. Really? It's been wonderful. I really thought I would miss being a CSW.

When I was talking to you about it when you were first promoted, you were like, man, I'm really going to miss that connection with people.

Absolutely, and I thought I was, but due to the fact I can do more as a team lead than I can as a CSW, due to the the supports I can give my CSWs, I can give more advice, I can push more purchase orders through, see more clinical teams fight on their behalf, things like that. I never could do that just as one CSW. Having a TL next to my name gives me bit more authority when I talk, especially at clinical hillies. So yeah, I advocate much better as a TL.

And I still get to see my tangata whare because my staff still bring them in. yeah, so I still have that contact and I'm allowed to visit them now and then. I'm the boss, but I'm allowed to.

I to.

Speaker 2 (05:20.512)
Awesome. You mentioned something there before about getting more respect in meetings with clinicians. And there's a story that I know you've told me before which I really wanted you to share today because I think it speaks to the value of support work. Are you comfortable sharing that story? mean, I'll say You know which one I'm talking about.

Yeah, cool. About four or five years ago, I went to a discharge hui for one of my tangata whare ora. You know, I'm a pretty easy going, relaxed guy and I'll meet anybody. So I go to the hui and in the hui, where doctors, psychologists, social workers, all the ATs, and I come in and as you know, my AT, I come in and say hello to everybody, because that's the way I am. And they all turned up, they're all looked up, turned to me and then...

He didn't even acknowledge me when I come through. So I just sat down by myself and they just talked with him. So he didn't engage me at all. And then when my tangata whare would come up, he came through the doors and they all stood up and they go, hey, hey, hey, hey. And he went straight through them and he come over to me and goes, hey, bro, how's it going? And I go, hey, bro, how's it going? Because he came to me. And it was funny because straight after that, the clinicians all looked at me and they go.

Then through the hui, they're picking my brain to talk about, so you know such and such, know such and such. If the clinicians would only listen to us at the very start, we could help our whare 100%, but they don't. So it was hurtful, but at the end of the day, my tangata whare showed them that I was more important than them. Absolutely. I see them four or five times a week. They only see them once or twice a month. And my perspective always been like, we...

Because you've got that relationship.

Speaker 1 (07:00.078)
Our CSWs don't carry the tuhu there, the certificates, the doctorate they have. Whereas our CSWs, as you know, we're their OTs, we're their social workers, we're their counsellors, we're their family, we're their best friends. So we do all that and we do that not for the extra money because we want to make a difference.

nice segue to our title. That's why it's so appropriate though,

Absolutely. That's the whole key about being a CSWE is to make a huge difference in their lives.

Are you able to tell us a little bit about Maetahi Trust?

Mahi Tai Trust is a kaupapa Māori mental health service and addiction provider. Now we at CSW function on, we are controlled by eight POs in our service. I could go through them, but it would be hard to understand. But we eight guiding POs and those guiding POs like Kaitiakitanga is to help us work out our goals for our tangata whareira. And our main strength in our Mahi Tai is the whareira have had goals, our CSW makes sure they get to their goals.

Speaker 1 (08:01.718)
Mahi Tai is a wonderful service. We have a wonderful CEO. It's not a punchline for my CEO, but we have a wonderful CEO. What I mean is her way is always thinking, happy kaimahi, happy whaora. And like I said, my own prime example, my CEO, she looked after us very well during the COVID times. Back in our days, we used to book cars, but she gave us all a car each so we wouldn't have to share cars during those times. And she was like...

checking on us, making sure we were okay, sending us gifts like we had to come to the office. She was all wrapped up with the mask, giving us food or parcels, just like that. Amazing. It was. And we all appreciate that. And I'm always very thankful because I worked hard because she made sure she looked after us really well. That's why I'm loyal to my hitai. I could go on for days to be honest.

You're a good advocate for them. Yeah, yeah. But that's so important, is feeling valued for the work that you do because you go above and beyond all the time.

We put in extra hours like our tangata whare will bring us after hours when they'll take the calls but because we know them so well and we don't want them to get on well, of course we're going to take the call. But we don't take it for extra money. We take the call because we want them to feel safe and better. So it's never been for the money. It's been for our tangata whare.

Yeah, yeah. How do you make sure though that you don't burn out?

Speaker 1 (09:27.438)
I think we're blessed because we check ourselves, we talk amongst ourselves in our group to see how we are. But I think for burnout, we are blessed and with Mahi Tei, we're lucky to get these Revite days. And Revite days is a day given back to kaimahi to do whatever. And it could be anything. It could be a movie day, could be a beach day, it could be anything. But I take that as a big thank you. My director, she always says that they forget, you you got life after work too. That's what I mean by burnout.

It's awesome.

Speaker 1 (09:57.058)
She's always making sure that take care of yourself. If you can't take care of yourself, how can you take care of fire?

Yeah, absolutely. You can't pull from an empty cafe. I don't know if you've worked for any other mental health reduction organisations before, but what percentage of the work do you reckon is done by support workers?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (10:16.75)
CSWs are the biggest force in Mahitei. I would say for Mahitei, if I had to guess on the top of my head, it probably be about 60%, I would say. 67%. We are the key focus. We are the frontline workers. We need more CSWs.

And so if we didn't have that workforce, would anything else, it's a bit of a cheeky question, but would anything else be able to happen in our mental health and addiction system?

No. Are you saying if we didn't have any CSWs? No. Clinical teams couldn't do the mahi we do. And I don't think you need a certificate either sometimes because of that life skill that's very important because we're looking after children, we're looking after family, we're advocating for them. So that's basic life of a CSW.

And what do you think are the things that make a great community support work?

I think a lot of us outside the square box are pleasing our go-getter too because our tangata whare are already down as you know. So they don't want to see a support worker that's just as down. My team, man, my team are cheeky. They're pretty uplifting. So we go in, know, hey bro, how's it going? Or hey sis, how's it going? Even though they're having a sad day. So we try and be as uplifting as we can for our tangata whare.

Speaker 1 (11:32.686)
Patience, definitely. Very, very caring and have a very understanding attitude of the tangata whare because for me, when I usually get my new tangata whare, would, they come with a history. Right? So some of us can read the history and judge them straight away. You know, this is all historical. But for me, for my mahi, I would meet them first, then read the history. Because a lot of things have changed. So I don't want to prejudge them going in there and thinking, oh,

Gee, they were this, they were that, and my garble just goes straight up. But if I go in them and meet them, off them, meet them, for them, we talk and we build a rapport right there and then. So I think having an open mind and being understanding.

Yeah, 100 % I've experienced that as well with being a support worker in the disability space. You know, quite often you're told to read someone's notes before you interact with them. And it does, it sets you up with a whole different expectation as to who this person is instead of just meeting them one on one and building that rapport. Like you say, it becomes a barrier, I think. have all these words like challenging behavior stuck in your head and that's how you view people. So I think that's great point. So having an open mind.

There's one when I checked just to see what it was like to read the history, he had violent behaviour. So I went in there really to have a go, know, get really garroted up. But I couldn't really build my rapport with him because I was really very, very guarded. So I said, I'll never do that again. So that's my advice is to just don't judge our tangatawhai on their history.

How important the role do you think support workers play in our communities?

Speaker 1 (13:07.87)
I'm very biased of course. So I think we play the most important role. mean when engaging in the community or being in the community? think CSWs are the main ones because they're the ones that will advocate for our tangata whare, the whare out in the community. They're the only voice for the tangata whare. Because some can't engage in the community, some can't talk, some have anxiety. And we are their voice, we are their guardian. So we are essential to our tangata whare.

And do you think that there's also a place for you to role model to the rest of the community, how to be with people?

Yeah, I think so because, you know, I took one of my whare to a library and the librarian knew who the tangata whare was because she had already kicked this tangata whare out before because of his behaviour. He came through with me and she had a webbing and said, hey, I know this person and blah, this. I go, that's alright, he's with me. And so what she did is I brought him in and I just sat there, you know, watched over him and he interacted. He just had read his book, interacted with others and she watched and goes, hey, you know,

He's different. Why is that? Because he's got somebody watching over him because his anxiety is high. And if you come in like, because she really growled him, his guards go straight up. And plus he's wearing his dark shades. And what that does, dulls the voices for him because it just focuses on what he's just doing. And she goes, so if he has his dark shades, he'll be good. You look at him over there see, I step right back and he's in the corner just reading his book by himself. No hassle, no problem.

He read us one book and he's ready to come home.

Speaker 2 (14:42.828)
Yeah, that's awesome. Sometimes I've heard stories about people thinking that support workers are lazy or not giving enough attention to their person that they're working with because they are standing back. What do you think about that?

I know the story is out there. None of us CSWs are perfect, let's be honest. Some take it for just standing back and the whare do anything they want. But if you really want to make a difference in the tangata whare, you can't be standing back and just taking it for a ride and just doing extra money. That whare is relying on you to make a difference in there, to protect them, to advocate for them. Like I said, I have heard that, but I would always discourage that if I come across that.

But do think you need to be up in the person's face all the time and like hovering over them and you know like a policeman? No, because what's that gonna do to them?

No. It's going to irritate them. It's going to make them anxious. Yeah, exactly. That's the meaning. We know our tangata whare so well, we can step back. And as long as they know we're around them, they'll be fine. They're fine. But if you're in their face, of course, you know.

time,

Speaker 2 (15:43.426)
What would you say to someone starting out in this career? Because it is a career. A lot of people talk about support work as the unregulated workforce. What do you think about that?

So if a brand new person that was coming through, it's never that type of mahi. I'll tell them, for me, it's the best job in the world because your office is the outside world. You're making a difference in the person's life. And if they go, how do you know that? You can change their day from when you pick them up, they're grouchy, they're mopey. And when you drop them off, they're smiling. And your focus becomes, once you meet the tangana whare, go, yeah, I know I can make a change in that person. That'll be my advice.

Yeah, yeah. And do you think it's a job that anybody can do?

Absolutely. Like I said, my very good friend, she was a mother. Never done mental health, never done nothing. And she was nervous when she first got into it. And she's my best friend. And second year running she came out here of the year. because she did not realize it's her life skill. she's a very caring person. her tangata wha'a'a'a'a thrived under her. Absolutely. So I used to hit her on the shoulder and go, yeah, see, I told you to do it, all right?

Yeah, yeah. So you've recently gone up the chain as you were. What do you think people saw in you? You've talked a little bit about how everyone was like, you're the most experienced here. That's not why they hired you. It's just sticking around the longest.

Speaker 1 (17:10.58)
because my handsome looks. But no, was my director and my service manager wanted me to come up. I said, why is that? I'm happy as a CSW. especially my director, she said, Tramaine, you know the job so well, you know you can do well teaching others. I think that's the main thing I can teach others at my level. I was really good at reporting and doing my admin side. So I was just helping my team through and other teams through.

Yeah, and we had a little talk about that in the preparation for this episode. it's about like, you know, leadership. What is it? And what does it mean in the world of support work? Does it just mean moving up through the ranks of management? Every workplace has got that one person, or maybe if they're lucky, a few CSWs or peer support workers, and everyone's like, they're really great at dealing with that issue. You should go and ask that person. You know, like the person that everybody knows.

go and ask them how they manage that situation, because they're really good at that. Like it might be interacting with whanau or doing their admin, like you say. Is that leadership?

a leader who's got to be a jack of all trades, able to deal with all different circumstances. I'm able to deal with clinical teams. am able to deal with my managers. I'm able to deal with tangata whare. I'm able to deal with my staff successfully. So I think having all those skills makes a good leader. But I think to be where you are, if you want to lead, to be honest, if I'm looking from a real honest point of view, having that experience as a CSW carries a lot of weight because the CSW is underneath you.

will respect you more when you make a decision. they go, yep, Tramaine knows that he's really done that before, so, yep, his decision has weight.

Speaker 2 (18:53.134)
And do you notice things in your teams now where you're identifying people that have those leadership skills coming up behind you?

Yeah, they don't want to jump up. There's two of them, I would say, that could do my job. They would rather me deal with all the paperwork and all the managers. for a team leader, there's a saying, we are the meat in the sandwich. We get the crap from our kaimahi, and we get the crap from our managers, and we're stuck in the middle.

Yeah, the meat and the sandwich, nice. What would you say to community support workers who want to excel and want to advance themselves but don't want to leave support work?

That's a really difficult question because as you know, there is no advancement for us CSW. And it's sad because we lose all that vast experience. mean, massive experience. I've seen a very good CSW, I might say, who's now a social worker. But he's a bloody good social worker. But it's a shame that it's only the dollar that made him go up. It's a really hard question whether they can make the jump because there's no pathway for us unless we go into leadership. I was never interested in being a social worker or nurse.

I a team leader, here I am. All I can say is it's a very hard pathway to anywhere. And they all end up being a social worker on there.

Speaker 2 (20:09.326)
Yeah, yeah. mean, do, know, at Tipoui we've had for the last couple of years the privilege of being able to give out professional development grants for support workers and peer support workers. And, you know, just looking through all the applications, you know, probably 90 % of them are people wanting to retrain to go into a different area. And that's gutting because, you know, you wouldn't ever want to hold somebody back. really not. You if that's their dream or they want to, as you say, go for a higher wage, like, you would never hold that against them.

that's everybody's property, but wouldn't it be great if you could just be the best support worker and be able to still look after your family financially and advance your career that way.

Absolutely, it's hard because it really sucks because I see the mahi we all do and it's like, like I said, we can be social workers, councils, everything, but we're not paid enough. But we do so much good mahi with our tangata whare and us CSWs make massive improvement in their lives, but it just doesn't pay enough. And I understand why people go up, like you said, I wish we could hold onto them dearly. I would pay them out of my money if I could, know, but we could never afford it. So that's just a pathway that they got.

Yeah, so acknowledging the limitations of wage increases, know, because that's the reality and we've got to be honest about it. And the fact that most people who are wanting to advance end up leaving support work. Are there any other kind of leadership opportunities that you can think of to stay within support work? How else can you show leadership in that space?

anyone like being a team leader or some of us become senior CSWs, which is just underneath a team lead. other than that, other pathway, I can't see any other way.

Speaker 2 (21:54.798)
What about putting your hand up for other opportunities or going into different areas?

stay as a CSW. Yeah, but I think your rate still follows you wherever you go, no matter which role you go into. But some of them might change to a different area, still as a CSW, experience something like, I'll give you example, they're working in the residential house, then they want to change their jobs and work in our day programs to work with different fire, watch our OTs work and things like that. So they could be getting the experience here, but the dollar amount doesn't really change at all.

Yeah. I mean, that is one of the cool things about support work though, is that it's so diverse. know, like... you have any interest, like say it's in youth, or say it's in supporting the rainbow community, or say it's in supporting refugees, or addiction, or specific types of support within those spaces, there'll be mahi out there for you. Obviously, not in every place in New Zealand, but support work is so diverse.

time

Speaker 2 (22:57.004)
So you can follow your interests to a degree. So how can Kaimahi who are wanting to explore leadership a bit more, how could they develop some of skills that are needed to be a leader?

I think if Kaimahi want to become a team lead and then work their way up, on one part they have to be very good at their admin. They've got to prove they can do the admin stuff. Their note writing, gold reviews and things like that. They also got to be a people person because as I told you, we're the meat and the sandwich. So we got to deal with the people from our own team and from management. Also, they got to lead by example. I've always, and my team will, I'm sure my team will say this, but I lead by example and they've seen the mahi I do.

I think you're also going to be a strong advocate for your team, as I think I am.

Yeah, Yeah, admin's a really interesting one, I know, I know, it's painful, but it's necessary. And so something that we've been looking at in the support worker advisory group that you're part of is how to make that something that support workers can see the value of not just something that takes them away from their tangata whaia ora. yeah. Yeah. So, you know, last year we were talking about this and people were saying, you know,

it's up to 40 % of my work now is doing the notes and doing the data. And that's time I want to be spending with my tangata whai ora. And so we've been kind of on a bit of a journey about just trying to explain to people that data belongs to the tangata whai ora and it helps improve the system so that we have better outcomes for people. So it seems like a crappy thing that you've got to do, but...

Speaker 2 (24:41.344)
It can make a big change.

I totally agree. When I was at CSW, used think far out of my ab- there was so much ab- I did more ab than I did with being with a tangata whare. But now that I'm a team lead, I see where all that information goes and how it helps my- leadership above me, my directors and my CEO. That's why they need the information. I can understand where it's all needed. So what I did is when I'm chasing my teams and saying, we need this information, we need the information, they go, oh, what for? What was this for?

And I explain to them, then they go, oh, you see, if you don't do it, then your team leader gets a big growling. So, you know, that's why you have to... But they understand why I said, I'm not being a pain in the neck because I want this. Then I gave them the bigger picture, said, if you provide this information, it helps us guide our information for new time of the fire, new contracts, something like that. So they totally understand. I think for CSWs, as long as you...

me in trouble.

Speaker 1 (25:36.664)
can be upfront why they need the information, then they'll understand why they need to put the admin, could it benefit the whole service and the tangata whare.

Absolutely. mean, if you're just saying, you've got to do this because you've got to do this, like, who's going to respond well to that?

I'll just say, I'll do it tomorrow. That won't even bother. But I think if you do explain why it's all about, like I said, being a TL, my team became very understanding.

Yeah, and note taking as well. You talked about taking good notes before.

You know, part of our notes that we do for our admin is collaborative notes, which is with our Tongue of the Fire. I could tell you a story, there's one beautiful story, one CSW. Yeah, go for it. Because Tongue the Fire, you sit with them at the end, how was your day? Yeah, it was good. So what did you do? Oh, walked over there. But they get better as they go, so we got a note for that. But we got one awesome CSW, and we got a Tongue of the Fire that has highest anxieties in the world.

Speaker 1 (26:32.45)
But now he's at the stage where our tangata whare types his notes in. It is, it is. I take my hats off to the, thought I was a good-

That's so cool.

Speaker 2 (26:40.322)
his own notes, owning it. This is my information.

And it's only because that CSW chipped a little bit at a time. He never did it at the very start. Just a little bit of time. That Tanganawhare was so very hard at the very start, like close as a closed book. Now he's opened up. So, and him doing, a computer type, not writing, but doing it. That's success.

Yeah, that is success, hey. And I think that's showing leadership as well.

Yes, yes, yes, definitely, definitely.

How beautiful that, you know, we're coming so far away from where tangata whaora, we've just completely removed from our own notes that are written about us. And it's one person's perspective on our wellbeing. Absolutely. To where we've got people writing their own notes now, which I think is sweet.

Speaker 1 (27:24.628)
But then we all, we all thought that when they first introduced us, we ain't got the time for that, we ain't got the time for that. But we do have the time for that because we, say we've got a block of two hours to spend with our tangata whare. We go, I only got two hours to spend with them. None of us are thinking that in those two hours near the end, you can do your notes with the tangata whare and classes, the whole thing. And then that's how we started doing it. So there's always time to do notes. There's always time to do notes.

Did you get that listeners? Tremaine says. That's awesome. Okay, I got a curly one here for you. Do you think that support workers are valued enough?

By our organisation, Mahitei, yes. I can't talk about other organisations, but different Mahitei. Clinical teams, some. So I do think we're undervalued more than what we should be. I get upset about this, if they only just listen to us, if the clinical teams would just listen to us and pick our brains and really sit down with us, we could help our tangata whare to increase their wellness instead of them thinking,

assuming what they need and still asking us what we think they need. But they never do. They never do. So yeah, we're undervalued. And it's a shame, though, because like I said, we see them all the time. We have the strongest rapport with them. And the clinical team just come in, fly in, you need this, you need that, and then go out. And then we got to deal with it. Because at the of the fight, we go, oh, I got to do this now. I got to do this now. They're upset. So we have to fix it up. But the clinical team have pulled out.

because I think they can create the mess and then walk out. So it's like, I wish they would just talk to us first.

Speaker 2 (29:08.224)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure they, you know, they're not trying to create myths.

They're very busy. told them their case loads are huge. So I understand. just wish it only takes five minutes. They just did listen to us and then we'll get through it together.

Yeah, yeah, much more collaboration needed, hey? And less hierarchy. Right. Yeah. So how do you think, you know, along those lines, we as a sector can better value support workers in the work that you do?

Yeah, it's a really hard one. You know, because you feel unappreciated for so long, I don't know, to be honest. We've reached out to clinical teams to listen to us. I'm not saying all clinical teams are bad, just some. It's really hard, I think, when you're being talked over and not listened to, you're just accepted as long as your file is okay. Yeah, I just think it's a hard one. I don't know how we could better that, unless us at CSW had a doctorate behind our name.

and they'll probably listen to us.

Speaker 2 (30:06.508)
I guess that's the aim of this podcast as well, hey, is to shine a little bit of a light on the mahi that you guys do because it does go unseen.

It does, not in the eight hours, like I said, it's always the after hours you do too. Sometimes we were coming back home late because we're getting their license or we're getting their shopping or we're visiting their auntie, something like that. And we don't clock in for those extra, we go, no, no, it's okay. I don't mind being late because this is for you. All those little things, but they don't see that. They don't see that. They just see those, we're just Uber drivers.

Just Uber drivers, and occupational therapists, and social workers, and counsellors, and all the things. Just without the paper, Without the paper. Without the paper. How can support workers and their managers avoid burnout?

favor.

Speaker 1 (30:53.644)
What we have in Mahita, we have our face-to-face with team, and I did my first ones. man, I learned so much about my team. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so, and that one is where we talk about everything. We talk about their wellbeing. We talk about what's going on at home. If they want to share, then we go from that to their caseload. Is their caseload enough? Is there enough hours? Any concerns with their whare? Any highlights of their whare? And that's where we work out, is everything okay?

Yeah, so that's reflective practice. And so you're doing it, you're the upline manager. Yeah. And are you doing it one-on-one with people or as a group? One. One-on-one. And so you said this is your first time doing them.

I was like, man, it so long. Because most of them were my co-workers and they'd go, shucks, I know something else about you now. In a good way. But then I realised, you really do really good, Mahi. You know, unseen. And you see all their work, could we go through their notes, their capacity, everything. So my team are so cool.

Yeah, yeah, slightly biased. So reflective practice is really important, you reckon, for avoiding birth.

Always fun.

Speaker 1 (32:04.27)
Absolutely, because that's when we talk about it. But then I got that open door policy that's been shown to me by my leader and my service before me. My team can come in and talk to me about anything. You know, there's a thing about, you know, people ringing for their sick day. say, I'm sick. I said, do you just ring me? If you need a sick day, just ring me. I'm not going to be the one that goes, no, you've got to be here at 8 o'clock or something. You just talk to me, tell me honestly what's going on. If you need it, you got it. I know it's hard, Mahi. I think that's why my team understand me because when I say...

Are you really that... I don't know, I do the mahi so I think it's that understanding between each other.

Yeah, yeah, and that's showing leadership as well, Tremaine.

I like the thing.

So humble.

Speaker 2 (32:45.368)
Were there any other stories that you had thought of when you were thinking about doing this episode that you particularly wanted to share or?

Mainly I think about my life as a CSW, especially my successes. one is, fired once I lose weight, right? So I make a plan, we're going to walk up these mountains, we're going to walk down Martian Bay. But my tongue of the fire, I've prayed for rain. Always prayed for rain. So what I did, because I'm an awesome CSW, I go, okay bro, we're going to go to the shopping. Why is that? We're going to go to Sylvia Park. Why is that bro? I need to do some shopping. He goes, oh yeah, okay then. So what we did, we went to Sylvia Park.

Have you been to Sylvie Park? So I said, oh yeah, I'm to go over here. Oh shucks, I've got to go back over there again. Oh, I've got to go over there again. And we did our 10,000 steps. he goes, okay, did you your walk today? He goes, what walk? I said, the walk we did to the up and down. goes, oh, we did our walk. yes, we did our walk today. can take you home now. So, know, it's just little things like that for our tangatawhai. Getting your licence is really cool. Because that's the ID. Most of our tangatawhai don't have ID.

Yeah, it's massive.

Speaker 2 (33:31.298)
Bitch she does.

Speaker 1 (33:49.518)
You know, they're flashing your ID just like little kids go, I got the ID. Or if they got their license, you know, and we're cheering alongside them, side by side, yeah, we did that together. go, no, no, you did it. I just helped you get to your appointments. Just little things like that. I don't want to share some sad stories because like it's really sad when they want to cry. I think the only thing I would say about our firefighters when I discharge them, it's so sad because you've had a long journey with them and it comes to a time like,

It was just one. And he said, oh, you guys are tremendous. I think I'm ready. I don't think I need any more support. I said, oh, bro. So I was going, are you sure you're... Because his goals were all completed. He was ready to meet. His family were excited to take him back. And I was going, are you sure? He's just not one. We go, no, no. And then we're going through his whole history together, all the things he's done. And he goes, oh, yeah, thank you, bro. was you. Because at the start, he was very, very hard.

But at the end, that's why his family wanted him back. His family has always been very supportive. And I said to him, you know, I'm going to miss you, bro? And goes, yeah, And we both, as we do, we hugged it up and had little tears together. It is hard because I know success when they do leave, but it's harder because you put your whole energy into that person to succeed. But you see it and you have to let them go. And I see him now and then. He's got his own job. He's got his own place. He's got a girlfriend.

And now you want to make them self like you've got a family. So, you know, so that's all.

That's all we want for people,

Speaker 1 (35:22.282)
Absolutely. wonder if that's why CSW is the best way. Yeah. We make the difference.

you make the difference. Nicely done. Thanks so much, Tremaine. It's always great having a chat with you, but you know, so great that we get to share your thoughts with a wider audience.

You're most welcome. I was here to share my thoughts and everything about CSW, my passion, my soul being, and hopefully it reaches people out there that want to make a difference in the world. Be a CSW, you can make a massive difference.

Speaker 2 (35:56.408)
Well that's a wrap. I'm Alexi Black. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Difference, a podcast for support workers in mental health and addiction in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Be sure to listen to the other episodes in the series and check out the resources and links for more information. Just want to take a wee moment to let our listeners know about the brand new section that we've created on the Te Pou website. It's dedicated just to mental health and addiction support workers.

We've been busy the last few months pulling together a whole bunch of learning opportunities and resources and putting them all in one place, making them super easy for support workers to find. So whether you're wanting to access some professional development or just learn from the experiences of other support workers, make sure you go and check out the new space on the Te Pou website. I hope you find it helpful. Mā te wā. See you next time.