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Published: 15 March, 2023

lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can help support the mental health and wellbeing of communities recovering from other crises, like Cyclone Gabrielle. The report shows the following: Help provided will need to target people who already experience disadvantage, including people and whānau

Published: 25 March, 2026

sustained leadership embedded to ensure lasting, meaningful change,” says Ms Russell. The Commission has recommended that Health NZ take action to improve access to specialist mental health and addiction services for young people, including youth-specific crisis responses, streamlined pathways into

Published: 4 November, 2025

Te Hiringa Mahara - Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, is calling for a cohesive national mental health crisis response system by June 2027. “A highly effective crisis response system is at the heart of mental health and addiction services. When people are in crisis it is often where the

Published: 4 November, 2025

Crisis responses are a critical part of an effective mental health system, and we are calling for a nationally cohesive approach to crisis responses to be developed by June 2027. In Aotearoa New Zealand, we have a collection of services with components that are working well. Elements of a good

Published: 30 April, 2026

Zealand Health Survey found 1 in 5 of 15–24-year-olds experienced high to very high psychological distress. Primary and specialist mental health and addiction services cannot meet need at this scale.  “We know that without easy-to-access support, early distress can lead to long lasting negative

Published: 13 December, 2023

?   The COVID-19 pandemic, the increasingly severe natural disasters and the cost of living crisis has led to mounting concerns about whether services are readily available.  Mental health is more visible than ever before, and not always for the right reasons.   What we need

Published: 2 September, 2025

forms part of the ongoing Te Hiringa Mahara – Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission programme of work examining effective crisis response systems, which will inform our upcoming monitoring report scheduled for publication in November 2025, and we expect to inform future service design and

Published: 25 February, 2026

for young people, including youth-specific crisis responses, streamlined pathways into care as well as an increased range of effective acute community options tailored for young people. It is positive to see an overall increase in access to specialist mental health and addiction services and the new

Published: January 2026

Briefing to the Incoming Minister February 2025 Following the changes to the Minister for Health and Minister for Youth in February 2025, Te Hiringa Mahara -- Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission provided the following briefings to the incoming Ministers. Read and download our Briefing to the

Published: 23 October, 2024

Government recently announced that six new Crisis Recovery Cafés will be rolled out around the country over the next two years. The benefits of this type of care model are examined in our recently released insights paper on acute options for mental health care. Our Lived Experience team prepared