FASD Guidelines

Whakakotahitanga

Presentations about the development of the Whakakotahitanga Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder diagnostic guidelines for Aotearoa New Zealand.

These presentations about the development of the Whakakotahitanga Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder diagnostic guidelines for Aotearoa New Zealand were originally created for a free public webinar on 14th August 2024 a few months after the Guidelines were launched. The presentations have been provided individually for ease of viewing and are around 10 minutes in length.

The presentations cover: an overview of the guidelines, Clinical evidence, literature review, creative brief, stakeholder wananga, Critical Tiriti Analysis, holistic approaches to engagement and referral, diagnostic criteria, post-diagnostic support.

Presenters

The presenters are members of the guidelines team:

Dr Andi Crawford

Consultant Psychologist
(Pākehā)

Dr Andi Crawford is a Clinical Psychologist who works for Te Ara Manapou (Pregnancy and Parenting Service) Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui, (Hawke’s Bay) providing support for pregnant women and parents of young children who experience addiction. She was the Tangata Tiriti co-lead for the development of the guidelines. Andi talks about the Overview, Clinical evidence and Literature review of the guidelines.

Te Atarua Davis

Artist/Researcher
Waikato Tainui

Te Atarua (Waikato Tainui) is a creative and researcher with Hāpai te Hauora. They weave these complimentary skills together with their rich experiences to help make visible takatāpui, Māori and disability activism.

Tania Henderson

Whānau Therapist
(Ngāti Ruawaipū, Ngāti Porou)

Tania is a whanau therapist and has been dedicated to supporting high-risk whānau for over 20 years, focusing on parenting and health. Tania actively raises awareness about FASD and works with affected whānau and cross-sector services. In 2020, she led the ‘Hapū Māmā Harm Reduction Project’, delivering FASD awareness training and support to whānau.

Dr. Kara Te Whata-Maynard

Psychologist
(Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Hine)

As a Learning Support Psychologist with the Ministry of Education, Kara has over 17 years of experience in various fields of psychology. Kara’s interest in FASD began in 2012. Kara is committed to providing services for Māori and ensuring that clinicians work towards the provisions outlined in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Presentation Videos

Check out the following videos about our work and recent presentations.

Whakakotahitanga Overview

Andi talks about the initial discussion around developing specific guidelines for Aotearoa and the need to be founded upon Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Creative Brief

Te Atarua explains the mātauranga that informed the visual representation of the guidelines focusing on the relationship between the individual, their whanau and the clinical team throughout the assessment process being based on mana, mauri and mātauranga.

Key Stakeholder findings from wānanga

Tanias talks about the wānanga that were held to engage with key stakeholders to inform the guidelines.

Clinical Evidence

Andi talks about the clinical evidence that informed the guidelines including learning from the review of the Australian Guidelines.

Holistic Approach

Tania talks about holistic models such as her model of engagement Ko au which emphasises the importance of the village who raises our tamariki being able to understand the needs of our tamariki, have their best interests at heart, and work together to grow our tamariki to live a good life.

Literature Review

Andi talks about the literature that was reviewed to inform the development of the guidelines including broadening the scope to consider Māori models of health.

Critical Tiriti Analysis

Kara talks about the Critical Tiriti Analysis undertaken by Haami Harmer during the development of the guidelines. The CTA were used to evaluate the aspirations of the team to “Ground the development of Aotearoa (NZ) New Zealand diagnostic guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) within Te Tiriti o Waitangi.” While the state of mauri ora was beyond the limitations of funding, scope, time and personnel, the guidelines did achieve an increase from Mauri piki to mauri oho.

Engagement and Referral

Kara talks about engaging with whanau and the referral process. She emphasises the importance of building relationship and connection, shared decision-making, and informed consent, as well as a holistic multidisciplinary approach.

Diagnosis and Post-Diagnostic Support

Kara explains co-occurring conditions and differential diagnosis in order to avoid attributing everything to FASD as well as the need to address trauma and prenatal alcohol exposure. The good practice statements support a holistic needs-based and whanau-centred approach especially when feeding back to whanau and discussing post-diagnostic support. An FASD assessment needs to be responsive to Māori, place them within community and culture and the results need to be representative of the day to day functioning and behaviour of the individual, in order for the information to be accurate, meaningful and useful to whānau.