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Published: 21 March, 2024

The announcement today by the Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey that a new mental health and addiction peer support service will be set up in hospital emergency departments is a positive move.   “People who are experiencing mental distress who arrive at an emergency department will

Published: 4 July, 2024

help and their whānau. These targets will help focus effort on making sure services are available,” says Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Board chair Hayden Wano. “In our briefing to incoming Ministers we made a strong case for mental health and addiction targets to be developed, so it is

Published: 25 February, 2026

addiction outcomes. Overall, the data shows an increase in psychological distress, and unmet need for mental health and substance use care remaining similar to the previous year. Hazardous drinking has continued to decrease. In general, findings show significant disparities for disabled adults and Māori

Published: 9 April, 2025

On 8 April the NZ Police and Health NZ made a joint announcement about Mental Health Response Changes.  With Phase One complete, the agencies Phase Two will now start from 14 April with both agencies agreeing to a staged implementation across districts. Te Hiringa Mahara has made this

Published: 18 February, 2025

Government and health agencies to accelerate improvement in a range of critical areas. This included a call for Health NZ to develop a mental health and addiction workforce plan to address service capacity and workforce shortages by June 2025. “We will be keeping a close watch on access and will

Published: 25 June, 2025

Our first assessment comparing status of wellbeing for people who interact with mental health and addiction services reveals significant inequities across economic, social and cultural indicators. People who interact with mental health and addiction services experience systemic disadvantage in

Published: March 2026

A think tank convened by Te Hiringa Mahara created space for ‘blue sky’ thinking about the future role primary and community care can play in supporting people with mental health and substance use needs. To share the outcome of the think tank workshop held in August 2025, we have published a short

Published: 8 April, 2026

Consultation by the Ministry of Health on the first, national Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy began on 8 April 2026. We would like everyone to share their views and make their voices heard. Te Hiringa Mahara has provided independent advice to the Minister for Mental Health on the development

Published: February 2026

published 30 June 2022 and describes what an ideal mental health and addiction system looks like. This will be used to assess, monitor, and advocate for improvements to the mental health and addiction system of Aotearoa, including services. He Ara Āwhina amplifies the most important voices – tāngata

Published: 27 July, 2021

being strong system oversight and an agency that really kept the pressure on the system and also governments to actually do better, and for the system to perform better. So we monitor mental health and addiction services and we also look at some of those wider factors such as housing, education, and