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Published: 29 October, 2024

Last week we welcomed the passing by Parliament of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) (Improving Mental Health Outcomes) Amendment Bill. This amendment requires that the Minister for Mental Health produce a mental health and wellbeing strategy for Aotearoa New Zealand within 12 months. The Bill was

Published: 9 April, 2025

reporting on this later in 2025 and expect this to inform future service design and improvements. Read the Implementation of Phase Two of Mental Health Response Changes to start announcement (8 April 2025)

Published: 18 February, 2025

Tīmata Te Haerenga service monitoring report. We found that this was not due to a decrease in need for specialist services, but largely due to significant workforce shortages and increasing complexity of people’s needs. In June 2024, the Commission made a set of recommendations for urgent action by

Published: 13 December, 2023

. The number one issue for secondary schools according to a recently released NZCER survey is support for students with mental health and wellbeing problems.   The last thing we want to see is rangatahi and young people who are experiencing severe or acute distress, struggling to access

Published: 8 April, 2026

of the strategy. This was provided in May and June 2025, and then in February 2026. In the interest of transparency, and to support the development of the Strategy, that advice is now publicly available in the links below.    In May 2025, we told the Minister and Ministry that the

Published: May 2026

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&nbsp

Published: 10 July, 2023

CCTO continue to live at home and are still able to work or study.    “We were told forced treatment can have a negative impact on peoples’ trust in and engagement with services. This is the opposite of what is needed to facilitate recovery,” Mr Wano said.  The number of people

Published: January 2026

. Why is this important? People in Aotearoa experiencing significant mental distress continue to be subject to coercive practices despite evidence there is no therapeutic value.  Practices like Compulsory Community Treatment Orders or seclusion, are enabled by: outdated mental health law (the Mental

Published: January 2026

Youth Wellbeing Insights Report This report grows our collective understanding of the systems and determinants that affect rangatahi Māori and young people’s wellbeing. Report Young people speak out about Wellbeing: An insights report into the Wellbeing of Rangatahi Māori and other Young People in

Published: August 2025

February 2021.  Functions of the Mental Health Commissioner transferred to the new organisation at this time. In July 2022 we adopted the name Te Hiringa Mahara to reflect the positive energy,  confidence and strength to embody who we are. The new name was celebrated as part of a brand