Our Team

Front Office:

Gaynor, Karen and Lesley

Nurses:

Bridget, Carol, Trudy and Tilly

Healthcare Assistant:

Eve

Health Improvement Practitioner:

Rachel Kilday

A health improvement practitioner is a registered mental health and addiction practitioner. This is a new role to provide more support for you at the same place you see your doctor.
Image credit: Health Navigator NZ

Who is a health improvement practitioner?
A health improvement practitioner is part of a general practice team. They work with patients to achieve goals by providing support and follow-up for issues related to mental health.

What can a health improvement practitioner help with?
A health improvement practitioner can see people of all ages and at all stages of their lives and help with any type of issue related to behaviour change or mental wellbeing.
A health improvement practitioner can see people immediately when they are in the GP clinic to provide support. Your GP or doctor may refer you to a health improvement practitioner when you are in a GP clinic and you can usually see them immediately.

A typical consultation with a health improvement practitioner will take about 30 minutes and is usually focused on evidence-based brief interventions.
A health improvement practitioner can also educate other team members and help to develop pathways and protocols around mental wellbeing and addiction support.

Health Coach:
Jan Powell

Health coaching is a way of helping people gain the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence they need to take an active part in their own health care. It helps them reach the health goals they want to achieve.

Key points

• Health coaching is useful if you are working with someone who has ongoing health issues or complex health needs.
• Its goal is to improve their long-term outcomes.
• It can include whānau members, so they can also support your client in achieving their health goals.

What is the idea behind health coaching?
Health coaching is based on the saying that if you give a person a fish, they will eat for a day, but if you teach them to fish, they will eat for a lifetime.
It’s not about one person rescuing another; it’s about giving someone the resources to help themselves. Rescuing is appropriate for acute care when doctors need to take over and do something or tell someone what to do. But if someone has an ongoing health issue, rather than telling them what to do, a health coach works alongside them so they can manage their condition well and achieve the goals that they set.

What does a health coach do?
Just like sports coaches, the role of a health coach is to inspire confidence in you, share knowledge with you and find ways to motivate you to achieve your goals.
They might help someone manage their appointments or medication, answer questions about their condition, or explain more fully why the doctor recommended they take certain actions. They will help them work out what they want to achieve and will help them find the support to do that.
Health coaches have five roles, which are to:

• provide support for their client to manage their condition themselves
• bridge the gap between their client and their doctor
• help their client find their way around the healthcare system
• offer their client emotional support
• be their client’s ongoing first person to contact if they have a question.

Nurse Practitioner:

Anna Davidson

Our popular Anna has returned to work at Southside Health for telephone consults and occasional face to face consults.

Doctors:

Dr Bevan Rogers

Our original GP, who opened Southside Health in 2008, after working in Christchurch for 20 years, Bevan has been a GP in Rangiora since 2001. He thoroughly enjoys his job, is married to co-owner and Practice Manager Anne, has a little 20 acre lifestyle farm and plays in a jazz band.

Dr Shu Goh

Shu, from Singapore, has been a GP for 5 years. After completing his medical degree in Perth, he went on to practice medicine back in Singapore since 2017. An avid lover of food and travel, Shu and his wife, Lyz, are always planning for the next meal gathering or adventure. They have a three year old toddler, Arielle, who loves nature and animals and are looking forward to creating great memories in New Zealand.