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Published: March 2024

  Watch our first recording in the Te Huringa Tuarua webinar series - 28 September 2023. Find out what changes we want to see happen with Compulsory Community Treatment Orders in Aotearoa New Zealand.  In June of this year, we released a report on lived experiences of Compulsory Community

Published: 1 October, 2020

produced a summary report of this co-define phase. In response to the co-define phase feedback, we have developed the He Ara Āwhina framework to monitor and assess the mental health and addiction system as a whole, not just the services that people receive. We are doing this by listening to people

Published: 23 October, 2024

the following overview of the paper. There is huge potential for more peer-led, community-based and Kaupapa Māori, services to support people experiencing acute distress.  Te Hiringa Mahara has brought much needed attention to a wide range of options that haven’t always got the limelight they

Published: 13 December, 2023

Te Hiringa Mahara Chief Executive Karen Orsborn shares highlights from our 2022-23 Annual Report. In our second full year we have ramped up our efforts as kaitiaki of mental health and wellbeing in Aotearoa. In this short note I am sharing some of the highlights from the 2022-23 year, with our full

Published: March 2024

  Watch our fourth recording in the Te Huringa Tuarua webinar series - 19 October 2023. Learn about the impacts of inequitable investment and what it will take to improve service options for Māori. Ākona ngā tukinga o ngā tōritenga haumi me te huarahi e anga ai tātou ki te whakapai ake i ngā

Published: February 2026

Download Mental Health Bill submission pdf, 284 KB Since our formation Te Hiringa Mahara - Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has contributed to policy development to ensure Aotearoa New Zealand has mental health law based on human rights and eliminates coercive practices or reduces them to the

Published: 20 May, 2025

catalysts for the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (the He Ara Oranga Inquiry) in 2019 alongside widespread concern within the mental health sector and the broader community about services. Rates of suicide for young Māori people or rangatahi Māori have been noted as a pressing health

Published: 10 March, 2026

In this article Karen Orsborn, Chief Executive, outlines what needs to be done to promote online safety for rangatahi and young people.  Online spaces are now integrated into many young people’s lives, and Aotearoa, NZ has some of the highest rates of youth engagement in online spaces media in

Published: 16 June, 2022

have no therapeutic value, and called for investment that will provide the choice of services needed to enhance safety for all. Karen Orsborn: Time to end coercive practices in mental health care OPINION: People in Aotearoa New Zealand experiencing significant mental distress continue to be subject

Published: January 2026

Executive of Te Hiringa Mahara. During 2020, Karen led the establishment of Te Hiringa Mahara as Head of Secretariat for the Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. Karen has held a variety of health management and leadership roles that focus on improving outcomes for people through working