Te Taketake

Yes, there is a small fee for meals (please see the Wānanga section for more information on this), textbooks and any travel and required to get to and from the Wānanga sites in Dunedin or Rotorua.

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If you do not live locally, you will also need to arrange accommodation for yourself as we do not offer accommodation options.

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You should buy your textbooks directly from University Bookshop. The cost is around $1100 for first year textbooks but this is subject to change depending on changes to the booklist. Books are for both years with additional books required for Year 2 study (2024 onwards). If you have sourced any second-hand textbooks make sure you check the required editions on the booklist – you must have the correct edition.

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Wānanga are either 3 or 4 days duration. The first wānanga will start at 8:30am due to a powhiri. Thereafter, all wānanga will start 9:00am, unless otherwise negotiated. Classes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday conclude at around 8:30pm and on Sunday no later than 3.00pm. It is expected that you be on time so please arrange your travel accordingly.

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Session during wānanga will be 90 minutes long and days begin and end with karakia/quiet time. All teaching is done bi-culturally and tangata whenua are always acknowledged as part of the process.

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Attendance at every wānanga is expected. Should you miss a wānanga due to sickness or family emergency please bear in mind that you must attend a minimum of 80% of wānanga time. This means that if you miss more than 3 days over the year of study, you will not be eligible to continue to year 2 or graduate (if you are in year 2). If you are unable to meet this requirement, you will need to attend wānanga in the following year to complete the course expectations.

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Having a laptop at the beginning of year 1 is helpful as a drop box file is used for resources which will not function on a mobile device.

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There is often mahi kainga (homework) during wānanga for the next day.

All work in the wānanga is confidential and students are expected to maintain and honour professional boundaries.

MHTI will provide lunch, dinner, and morning and afternoon tea; however, tauira are asked to look after their own breakfast and supper. Tauira are also asked to respect the marae and to help with the cleaning, dishes, etc. You will need to advise us if you have any dietary requirements that we need to take into consideration.

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In the Dunedin cohort, breakfast is also supplied as there are no other options for those staying close by.

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We ask Tauira to make a small contribution towards the food we provide. This will be invoiced prior to each wānanga.

MHTI abides by all government recommendations and laws around covid. This is because we wish to be as safe as possible as all tauira are also in an essential health-related role or placement where covid vaccine rules will apply.

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Depending on the covid risk we do not have people staying over on marae (South cohort only), and we may need to change the wānanga dates. The Te Taketake programme does not lend itself well to zoom teaching so the options for using zoom are limited.

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All tauira and kaiako must do daily RATS testing if they have any symptoms or have been close contacts. Masks, gloves, hand sanitiser, RATS Tests and wipes are provided on site.

We deliver the training at two sites (Dunedin and Rotorua) on different weekends. If you live in the North Island, you can only apply for the Rotorua cohort, similarly if you live in the South Island, you can only apply for the Dunedin cohort unless there is a good reason why this isn’t possible eg, conflict of interest. As we often have a waitlist in the North, you can indicate on the application form if you would be willing to travel South if that was the only place available (remember that you will need to cover your travel and accommodation costs).

We expect tauira to have studied at NZQA level 4 or above. Preferably you will have at least completed a Level 4 Certificate in Health and Wellbeing before applying for Te Taketake. Te Taketake is a Level 7 Diploma, so it is the same level as the final year of a bachelor's degree.

Te Taketake teaches you the theory of addictions counselling at the same time as expecting you to apply your theoretical knowledge into your practice. If you don’t already work in the addictions field or do not have a range of addiction/CEP work in your current area, you will need to find yourself a student placement as you are required to complete 400 hours of clinical practice over the 2 years of the diploma. As a result, we believe that we produce graduates who are ready to start work in the addictions field on completion of their training.

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This means that most tauira find themselves having to learn a lot of new and complex information in a short period of time. If you work in the field you will need to discuss with your workplace and get a signed letter, on letterhead, to state you can do your clinical hours within your workplace. If on placement you will also need a signed letter on letterhead to confirm your placement. This must be provided with your application, or your application will not be considered.

Often people are motivated to work in the addictions field as a result of their own experience of recovery from gambling, alcohol, or drug use. We ask that you have been in recovery for a minimum of 2 years before applying. The same goes for being free of offending against others and no convictions in the last 2 years. Please note that those candidates who are shortlisted will be asked to complete the Police vetting process. As of January 2024, consumption and or sale of cannabis remains illegal. Free of offending applies to being convicted or unconvicted.

We strongly advise students to be in therapy as tauira often find it helpful to do so as Te Taketake is as much about your personal growth as it is about learning the skills of being an addictions counsellor.

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In this field of work, you will find yourself working with people who experience problems with substance use and gambling in addition to issues of violence, childhood adversity, offending against others, and people with a range of ethnicities, gender, sexual and lifestyle choices. Can you put aside your own experiences and values in order to work with people who are different from yourself?

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Consider if you’ve been able to move forward with your own life difficulties (whether related to substance abuse or not). Can you separate ‘your stuff’ from ‘their stuff’ so that you can focus on the needs of the whaiora or their whānau? If this is difficult for you then you might need to take some more time before applying for Te Taketake.

As well as attending 8 wānanga each year, you will need to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week on self-directed study and completing assessments as well as completing 400 clinical hours over the 2 years of the Diploma.

‍The wānanga run from Thursday or Friday morning till lunch time on Sunday.

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If you are new to the field of addictions treatment or your experience is limited to your own recovery, you will find yourself having to learn a lot of complex new information in a short period of time so you may need to allocate more than our suggested minimum of 10 hours per week.

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As adult learners, there are of course also the demands of family, whānau and work to juggle alongside your study. Before you decide to enrol for Te Taketake, we suggest you talk to family, whānau and friends about what you are thinking of taking on as you will definitely need the support of others if you are to add study to your life.

Talk to someone who has done Te Taketake and find out how they experienced it. Would they recommend it? What worked for them, what didn’t?

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If you don’t know anyone who is currently doing Te Taketake or has recently completed it, please email us with any queries and we will do our best to assist you or put you in touch with someone who can help you.

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Purchasing textbooks is essential for the successful completion of the course. A list will be provided at the start of the year. It is not possible to meet course expectations by only using the internet. Books can be purchased from university bookshop, their details are:

Website: University Book Shop - For all booklovers, everywhere. (unibooks.co.nz)

Phone: +64 3 477 6976

Email: enquiries@unibooks.co.nz

It is expected that students will have access to computers and that assignments are typed. Year 2 students are expected to bring laptops to class.

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Year 1 students are asked to present some work in class using presentation software (for example PowerPoint or Keynote). Please bring a laptop if you have one and it is advisable that you plan to purchase one. These projects are completed in small groups so you will not be disadvantaged if you do not have a laptop at the beginning of Year 1.

As you are likely to find yourself having to learn a lot of new information and develop complex skills, we suggest that you do what you can to ensure your computer skills are adequate ahead of starting. Do you know how to create, save, and write documents? Can you search for information online? Can you use email and PowerPoint software?

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The same goes for your writing skills. While your writing and analysis skills will develop over the course of Te Taketake, if you know that this is not one of your strengths consider doing a course or getting some tutoring to develop your writing skills.

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Get a dictionary as you are going to come across a lot of new words! You might consider getting yourself a notebook to record the new words and their meanings as come across them so that you create your own dictionary over time. It’s a good learning tool too.

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Learn how you learn best. While the kaiako of Te Taketake will use a range of teaching tools it is helpful if you have an appreciation of how you learn. Try this questionnaire to see if you have a preference for visual, aural, read/write or kinaesthetic (hands on) learning strategies. You can complete the questionnaire online for free: www.vark-learn.com.

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Studying while working can make life challenging so you will need to be as organised as possible. Is childcare sorted? How will you keep track of what work is due and when? When will you make time for personal study? Do you have a suitable space to study away from day-to-day distractions?

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Start work early on finding yourself a placement where you can do your clinical hours. If you already work in the addictions field then this may be straightforward but if not, it will likely take some time to negotiate.

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Some addiction services will not employ people (or host students) who have an addiction or offending history so if you do, you will need to explicitly check this with your potential placement. You will need your placement to have started prior the second wānanga (March). This is because your assignment from wānanga 2 involves 3–4 sessions with a “real whaiora”.

Te Taketake is two years study plus 400 hours clinical practice while you are studying. Graduating with the Te Taketake Diploma allows you to apply for Provisional Registration with DAPAANZ once successfully completed. You need to meet DAPAANZ Criteria for this and can apply 6 months after completion if you have done the required number of clinical hours post completion. This is why it qualifies you to apply for Provisional Registration.

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