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kia ora my name is lynn williams and i
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work with the team that take your o800
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nz dfu phone calls
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so
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let me tell you a little bit more about
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us
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and the service that we provide for you
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the team is made up of trained
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counsellors and when they start working
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with us they undergo specific training
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to understand
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your environment and how life can be
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working with the military
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being part of the military or being a
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family member of someone in the military
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they are aware that you or your family
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member may spend long periods of time
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away from you your family and friends
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and that this can cause
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difficulties and impact on all of you
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differently and it can also raise a
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whole heap of situations that you've
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never come across before
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they're also aware that experiences that
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you may and go could be difficult to
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talk about for a number of reasons
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including security clearance or the fact
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that they're traumatic but don't worry
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our staff sign confidentiality clauses
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which means that they can't talk to
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anybody about things that you talk to
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them about
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that they shouldn't
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you can talk to us about anything
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stress at home or at work
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depression anxiety
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problems with relationships including
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those with colleagues
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financial worries
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people going on deployments
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before the deployment during the
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deployment after the deployments
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and the transition into civvy street
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unfortunately we can't help you with
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what time does your medical center open
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or if you're when if your dental officer
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has an appointment available for you but
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anything about mental wellness is fair
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game
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we can also help you with referrals to
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vitae who are your employer assist
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program
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who can offer face-to-face
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counselling if required my colleagues
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are available 24 hours 24 7 7 days a
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week 365 days a year just like your
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commitment to the new zealand defense
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force you can contact us via phone or
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text from home or overseas
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and remember
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often the heart first step is the
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hardest step but we're here waiting for
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you when you need us
Whether you are uniformed personnel or a civilian, if you are feeling unsafe or if there is an immediate risk to you or someone else, call 111 immediately.
All members of NZDF and the Defence community can contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support for 24/7 confidential, external wellbeing support from an external health professional spanning telephone, text, email and face-to-face support. This is available to Regular Force, Civilians, Reserve Force, families and veterans (see specific eligibility criteria below). If you are seeking EAP counselling, this is available through this service. This is available to Regular Force, partners of Regular Force and Civilians for any issue, and is also available for Reserves, ex-serving and Families of NZDF members for Defence-related issues.
What's new?
Extending access families already had to NZDF4U Wellbeing Support to enable partners of Regular Force members to access support for all wellbeing issues, including but not limited to general stress/depression/anxiety, relationship troubles, financial worries (not just those directly related to service life)
Access to relationship counselling for Regular Force members and their partners.
We have received feedback that it would be useful to be able to seek support via email so this option is now available. To contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support via email, you can email wellbeingsupport@nzdf4u.co.nz. This email is received by a health professional outside of the NZDF and will not be shared with the NZDF (unless there are serious safety concerns). You can email NZDF4U Wellbeing Support from either your NZDF email address (noting this may only contain unclassified information) or your personal email address.
This may be of particular interest to those on ships who may have limited phone or text access but it is available to all members of the defence community.
How can I contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support? (all services available 24/7)
What happens when I contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support?
A health professional (outside of the NZDF) will assess what's going on and discuss support options. You can call about any wellbeing issue you want help with within your eligibility criteria. This can include anything from general stress/depression/anxiety, relationship troubles, financial worries, post-deployment problems, to transitioning out of the NZDF. The health professional will help direct you towards the best support for you. If it is an emergency, dial 111.
Counselling support services (up to six sessions) are accessible through this service (see eligibility criteria table below). Where this service isn't the best fit to support your needs, you may be referred on to community support and health services, and/or Veterans Affairs. Regular Force will be encouraged to use the internal NZDF health services and support systems as their first port of call for support. However, if you do not feel comfortable using the internal NZDF health services, this service is in place to ensure you get the support you need.
Eligibility Criteria
Service User Type
NZDF4U Telehealth Wellbeing Support
EAP
Regular Force
Yes
Yes
(for any reason and also includes relationship counselling together with their partner)
Partners of Regular Force members
Yes
Yes
(for any reason and also includes relationship counselling together with their partner)
All members of NZDF and the Defence community can call for 24/7 confidential, external support. This includes civilians, military, veterans (within 2 years of exit), reserves and family members.
You can access immediate telehealth support via phone, email, text and face-to-face/virtual counselling (EAP counselling) when you contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support.
Yes, you can call +64 9 414 9914 and if you prefer to be called back due to international calling fees, this can be arranged. It is also possible to receive support (or a call back) via email wellbeingsupport@nzdf4u.co.nz. In cases where the caller is on deployment, NZDF4U will notify the Medical Officer J1 Health Branch.
You can contact NZDF4U Wellbeing Support about any issue you want help with. This can include anything from general stress/depression/anxiety, relationship troubles, financial worries, post-deployment problems, to transitioning out of NZDF. The health professional will help direct you towards the best support for you. If you have an emergency dial 111.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) counselling support services (up to six sessions) are accessible to Regular Force, partners of Regular Force members (18+) and Civilians for any issue. EAP services (up to six sessions) are also available for family of Regular Force (18+), Reserves and ex-serving (within 2 years of exit) for defence-related issues. The nature of this support will be based on need and may include referral to EAP, community support and health services, and/or Veterans Affairs'. Family members accessing EAP will be asked to confirm their connection to NZDF; this will be recorded but not shared with the NZDF member or broader NZDF without permission.
Yes! When a service person contacts NZDF4U Wellbeing Support they can be referred to EAP for counselling (or choose to book in an EAP session directly). This is confidential. You may be encouraged to contact a NZDF health provider so that appropriate internal support can be arranged but you can access support through EAP if you are not comfortable with this.
No. The counsellor will ask for your name and some other demographic information. Youcan choose to provide it or not but this information is not shared with the NZDF unless there are serious concerns for the safety of the caller or others.
Yes! No information is given to the caller’s manager (or anyone within the NZDF). The counsellor will know your name if you choose to provide it. Either way, no personal details are sent to the NZDF. You will only be asked to provide some basic demographic information for reporting purposes (e.g. civilian/ military/ veteran/ reserve/ family member). If you are uniformed, you may be asked if you are comfortable with relevant health information being shared with the NZDF so it can be stored on your NZDF health record or additional support arranged through the NZDF, but this is voluntary.
Yes! They just need to state that they are a NZDF family member. This information is kept on the caller’s confidential file and is not shared with the NZDF or any other person.
If you (or another person) is at an immediate risk of harm, the counsellor is required by law to report this to necessary parties. For example, if you report to your counsellor that you intend to hurt yourself or somebody else, the counsellor may contact emergency services and the NZDF.
Civilians - If you are attending an EAP appointment during work hours, you will need to let your 1-up know you have an appointment to attend. You don’t need to specify that it is a EAP counselling appointment however your manager will need to be made aware the appointment is for medical purposes. Generally for sick leave, ‘no deduction will be made for absence of less than two hours’ but please check your employment agreement. If you require more than two hours to attend your EAP appointment, you will need to discuss this with your 1-up in advance to get their approval or to make alternative arrangements. Please email integrated.wellness@nzdf.mil.nz if you have questions or concerns about this.
Military personnel - If you need to attend an EAP appointment during work hours, you will need to let your 1-up know that you have a specialist appointment. Wherever possible you should be released to attend, or supported to make an alternative appointment time if this is not possible. You don’t need to specify that it is an EAP counselling appointment. If you need an appointment urgently, please contact your Health Centre.
If you would like to provide feedback on the NZDF4U Wellbeing Support service or have questions about the service, please email integrated.wellness@nzdf.mil.nz.