Search

Published: 3 April, 2025

documents progress establishing the programme, with recommendations on how to ensure it reaches its full potential. “The introduction of the Access and Choice programme has filled gap in support and has substantially increased access for people seeking help for mild to moderate mental health

Published: 16 February, 2024

that will deliver for rangatahi and young people.” “The emphasis on the agencies that plan and fund services working together is the key to untapping collective effort that will make real change.” The Auditor General highlights how tailoring support to the specific needs of young people helps

Published: 25 June, 2020

. Expanding access and choice to publicly funded mental health and addiction services Programmes for new frontline services have been launched at pace, such as nearly nationwide services via GPs, and pilot programmes with kaupapa Māori, Pacific and youth focus. Money is flowing into mental health to support

Published: 25 February, 2026

of options and is responsive. “We have been told by young people about the challenges they face gaining access to support.  Not being able to access services can have devastating consequences for them and their whānau. Ensuring support is available when it’s most needed can reduce the lifelong

Published: February 2026

reports and looks at how the services have been implemented across the five-year roll-out period. It looks at what was delivered by the programme compared with what was intended, as well as the impacts of the programme on people and on the mental health and addiction sector. The Access and Choice

Published: 11 June, 2025

Mahara outlines progress toward improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders and shows the need to speed up much needed improvements across the system. “Efforts to improve the system over the past six years have shown some early positive movement however these changes are not yet

Published: 14 June, 2021

difference through small actions every day. One of the challenges we have, as a Commission and a mental health and wellbeing sector, is to balance long-term transformation with meeting critical needs for support and services right now, particularly for our children and young people,” says Karen Orsborn

Published: 28 October, 2021

accessible to young people. Wano acknowledges that programme implementation has been happening during difficult times, with delays because of the COVID-19 response. The pandemic has understandably been a big challenge. However, the Access and Choice programme is critical to ensuring that people have

Published: 20 May, 2025

Gains – Child Wellbeing at Risk in an Unpredictable World .  Recent findings from the new UNICEF report show worsening youth mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is not new information but seeing how we measure up internationally clearly tells us that we are simply not doing enough. We

Published: February 2026

happen to improve crisis responses in both the short term and the longer term.  Our key findings include: Crisis services are hard to navigate, fragmented and patchy, and many people don’t get the help they need. Fewer people have a recorded crisis activity, however, a higher proportion are urgent