How do tāngata whaiora with cognitive communication disorders access mental health support? Each year, over 45,000 New Zealanders sustain an acquired brain injury (ABI). These individuals frequently
experience mental distress alongside cognitive-communication disorders, requiring navigation between neurological rehabilitation and mental health services.
Peer support is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap and offer hope in recovery. Aotearoa New Zealand is currently making historic investments in peer support networks. The new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy will rapidly expand its Consumer, Peer Support, and Lived Experience (CPSLE) workforce across primary, emergency, and acute settings. While Speech-Language Therapy has a long history of peer-led groups and support, these initiatives operate largely outside mainstream mental health care. The expanding CPSLE workforce offers an opportunity to embed the benefits of peer support into health services nationwide. Importantly, however, mental health-based peer support is built on relational conversation. CPSLE workers need exposure to accessible communication resources and training to ensure people with cognitive communication disorders can benefit from this new infrastructure.
This summer project consists of a scoping review mapping international and local frameworks on how peer workforces adapt to cognitive communication needs, identifying training gaps and best practices to ensure national mental health investments are accessible to all
Supervisors
Primary Supervisor: Kristin Gozdzikowska
Application and funding
This is a UC Commitments Summer Scholarship research project. Emailed applications will not be considered. Find out more here: University of Canterbury Scholarship Portal - UC Commitments Summer Scholarship
Final date for receiving applications
25 September 2026
