New Zealand's largest forensic mental health unit has been given the go-ahead to build a new kaupapa Maori driven unit.
In July this year, the Auckland clinic put a proposal forward to the Waitemata District Health Board to expand its Tane Whakapiripiri unit because of its success in rehabilitating patients.
The Tane Whakapiripiri unit opened in 2006 and combines a kaupapa Maori approach with its clinical services.
People at the 106-bed Mason Clinic have been referred from mental health services, prisons and the courts. More than half of the patients are Maori.
Clinical director Jeremy Skipworth said Tane Whakapiripiri had achived great outcomes and hoped this would be the same at the new unit which would also be run on a kaupapa Maori model.
Dr Skipworth said the 15-bed medium-secure unit would enable some patients to enter a rehabilitative pathway earlier than they could at present.
All patients would be eligible to go into the unit, which was expected to be completed in two years, he said.
