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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: January 2024

Lived Experience Learn about our commitment to being an advocate for communities with lived experience of mental distress and addiction. Advocacy Learn about our advocacy work. Mental Health and Addiction System Learn about how we independently monitor, assess, report and share findings on mental

Published: 20 April, 2026

It is one year since the Mental Health Bill was returned to Parliament for its second reading, and Te Hiringa Mahara is calling on the Government to ensure this is passed into law this year. On 17 April 2025, the Health Select Committee handed the Bill back to Parliament to be finalised. Since then

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: 8 August, 2025

We’ve put the key mental health and addiction findings from the NZ Health Survey 2023/2024 into one, easy to read summary. We intend for this information to be used as evidence to support planning and investment, and to direct resources where they are most needed to improve mental health and

Published: January 2026

  We are advocating for change from a coercive to a choice-based mental health system. The changes we are calling for can be made now. Repeal and replace the Mental Health Act New legislation must be co-designed with people with lived experience of compulsory treatment, uphold Te Tiriti o

Published: 25 June, 2020

The Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has released a report,  He Ara Oranga – Manuka takoto, kawea ake / Upholding the Wero Laid in He Ara Oranga , signalling progress of the Government’s response to He Ara Oranga, the inquiry into mental health and addiction

Published: August 2025

Te Hiringa Mahara - Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a kaitiaki (guardian) of mental health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our history We were established as a result of He Ara Oranga, the 2018 inquiry into mental health and addiction , as an independent Crown entity at arms-length

Published: 5 June, 2024

statement . As part of this, we monitor and advocate for more Kaupapa Māori choices for whānau accessing mental health and addiction services. In June 2023 we published the Kaupapa Māori services report . This report included data on investment in, and use of, Kaupapa Māori services up to June 2022. This

Published: 16 June, 2022

In early June we provided an article on coercive practices to the New Zealand Herald for consideration as part of its Great Minds campaign on mental health. The article, by our Chief Executive Karen Orsborn, pointed out that coercive practices continue in Aotearoa New Zealand despite evidence they