Effectiveness of early intervention and secondary prevention supports for young people

In Aotearoa New Zealand, distress among young people has increased sharply over the past decade. The research is clear that supporting young people earlier, before distress escalates, can reduce the long-term impacts on their mental health, wellbeing, education, employment, and family outcomes. It also reduced the demand on the mental health system which is under pressure. 

There are many programmes and services in New Zealand and internationally that provide early intervention and secondary prevention, including Youth One Stop Shops and the Youth Access and Choice Programme.  

These programmes and services are increasingly being designed specifically with and for young people to fill a gap in need and help smooth the transition between paediatric and adult services. These services need to be flexible and acceptable to young people, easy to access, prioritise sustained engagement and be co-designed with young people.  

About the effectiveness review 

Te Hiringa Mahara commissioned a review of research examining programmes and services that have demonstrated improved mental health for young people to provide an evidence base for people developing, funding and advocating for programmes and services that support young people with early signs of distress. Supplementing this detailed review is a shorter evidence brief.  

Programmes and services included were those that had been evaluated in the last 10 years and where the studies examined whether supports improved distress, anxiety or depressive symptoms among young people aged 12–24 years. In total, 20 studies of 16 interventions were identified that met these criteria. 

Key findings 

Young people told us they want options when they need support. This review shows a range of approaches are effective in reducing distress and supporting good mental health and wellbeing, demonstrating the value of investing in a range of services and supports, including face-to-face, light-touch and online options. 

Young people have also told us they want their voices heard. This review shows that co-design with young people is a critical driver of effectiveness. Co-design should be a minimum standard for service design and evaluation.