Mental Health Foundation In Touch update: December 2018
Tena koe. We’re welcoming the Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry’s report, He Ara Oranga.
You can read or download the full He Ara Oranga report.
The Mental Health and Addictions Inquiry was formed in response to concerns from New Zealanders about how we support people experiencing mental distress, as well as how we can increase wellbeing.
Over 2,000 people attended 26 public meetings around the country and over 5,200 submissions were made to the Inquiry. Over 400 other meetings were held with a range of groups.
The Mental Health Foundation made six submissions to the Inquiry.
Today we told the Government that it’s time to get on with it. The report reaffirms what many previous reports told us – we need radical change to the way we respond to mental health in New Zealand and we need it now. There is no more time to waste.
We are particularly keen to see work completed urgently on the national suicide prevention strategy – we haven’t had one since 2016. We’ve lost too much time and too many lives in the delay.
We want to see the Government implement all the Inquiry’s recommendations; to see them make courageous decisions that will create lasting change for New Zealand.
We will not allow mental health to be neglected any longer. It’s time to get on with it.
Read our full statement, including our highlights and disappointments.
What do you think of the report and its recommendations? We’d love to hear from you! Please send any thoughts you’d like to share with the Mental Health Foundation (communications[at]mentalhealth.org.nz).
It’s an exciting and hopeful time in the mental health sector – we’ll be keeping the pressure on political decision-makers to finish what the Inquiry started.
Nāku iti nei,
Shaun Robinson and the Mental Health Foundation