Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

Save the date! 📅 We’re excited to announce that Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2025 will be held from 15-21 September 2025! Follow us and sign up at mhaw.nz to stay updated on resources, activities, and how you can take part.💜

The Mental Health Bill (the draft law replacing the Mental Health Act) is still open for public submissions. One large topic within that Bill is seclusion. Aotearoa’s mental health system still practises seclusion (solitary confinement), where someone in acute mental distress is placed in a room, often with just a cardboard toilet and mattress. This practice is not therapeutic, breaches people’s basic right to exit a space and has been defined by the United Nations as a form of torture. The Government originally planned to eliminate seclusion by 2020, but the practice continues today. It's also true there are challenges to ending seclusion, such as staffing levels, training and hospital facilities being up to scratch. But, if we don’t believe seclusion can end, how can we ever expect it to? We believe ending seclusion is possible, and we’ll be asking for it to end in our Mental Health Bill submission. We believe it’s possible because even now, in our stretched mental health system, some mental health services have nearly eliminated it. One of these services is Te Toka Tumai, an acute inpatient mental health unit in Tamaki Mākaurau/Auckland. For the past three years, Te Toka Tumai has had fewer than 24 seclusion episodes annually, with constant efforts to reduce these figures further.   Read more around TeToka Tumai’s approach to reducing their solitary confinement rates here: https://lnkd.in/gUEzdjqD Get ready to make your submission on the Mental Health Bill before Friday, 20 December: https://lnkd.in/gEzd883q

It’s no secret our mental health law and system need work. But we know significant, positive change is achievable, because there are many effective alternatives already thriving, and producing better outcomes, both here and overseas – they simply need more funding and support to become the norm. The Italian city of Trieste is one of these inspirational alternatives. Trieste’s innovative mental health care model – in full swing for over 50 years! – heroes the dignity, autonomy and inclusion of those of us with significant mental distress, with many parallels to kaupapa Māori approaches in here in Aotearoa. Read more about Trieste here: https://lnkd.in/gud4Z4UY

Did you know Aotearoa has one of the world’s highest rates of forced mental health treatment? One New Zealander goes under the Mental Health Act (our current mental health law) every 46 minutes. Forced mental health treatment can cause harm and trauma, to both people under the Mental Health Act and mental health workers – plus there’s little evidence it’s effective or produces good mental health outcomes, and it’s costly to implement and run. It doesn’t have to be this way. We know a better mental health law and system are achievable, because there are many effective alternatives already thriving, and producing better outcomes, both here and overseas. Watch our video above to see how we recommend the Mental Health Bill (which you can also have your say on) changes in line with these insights. Read more about our vision for change here: https://lnkd.in/giBg-9pg

The Mental Health Foundation opposes the Treaty Principles Bill. We believe it is a breach of the agreement made between the Crown and Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Bill undermines the right for Māori to self-determine (tino rangatiratanga), and we believe this will harm mental wellbeing outcomes for everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially Māori. We must commit to honouring Te Tiriti as it currently stands, to create a flourishing Aotearoa for all. Read our position statement on tino rangatiratanga here: https://bit.ly/3AWsx4X

Ngā mihi nui to the 137 people who took part in Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Marathon events and fundraised for the Mental Health Foundation. Together you raised over $73,000 to support our work 💜 Mahi tika ana! Great work!

Note: This content discusses abuse, and may be triggering for some readers  “This apology will be a big day for survivors, and for the whānau and loved ones of people who weren’t able to see this day come. It will be emotional. I send my aroha to each and every person affected. “But to prevent State abuse happening in the future, we need more than words. Because the truth is, most of the factors that led or contributed to the abuse the Inquiry found still occur today. “The continued use of solitary confinement (seclusion), where someone is placed in a bare room often with just a cardboard toilet and a mattress, is one example. Solitary confinement was a tool used to punish State wards and control their behaviour, and is still used in mental health services...Imagine if people knew it was still being used in our mental health system, on the day of this apology in 2024?” At 11.30am, the Government will apologise to over 200,000 New Zealanders for hundreds of thousands of unimaginable acts of medical and other abuse they suffered by the State’s hand, acts documented by the Royal Commission’s Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Read our chief executive Shaun Robinson’s opinion piece calling for more than just words, on this day of significance: https://lnkd.in/gvA2FEnN Need support? Visit our dedicated webpage here: https://lnkd.in/gtyHeZK8

Parliament's Health Committee has opened public consultation on the Mental Health Bill! This means that anyone in Aotearoa can now have their say on how the Mental Health Act will change any time from now, until midnight on Friday, 6 December this year. This news has come much earlier than expected – many people weren’t expecting it to happen until 2025 – and it hasn't been picked up by the media. But it’s important to remember how important this opportunity is to change our outdated, archaic mental health law for the one New Zealander every 46 minutes who goes under it. The current Mental Health Act criminalises the people needing mental health support the most, and can have a significant, negative impact on people’s lives. It doesn’t have to be this way – a better mental health law and system are possible, and achievable. No matter who you are – someone who has been under the Mental Health Act, a friend or family member, a mental health worker, or someone simply wanting to do good – you can help this law change for the better. To find out more about the Mental Health Act and how to have your say on it, tap the link: https://bit.ly/4f7OIEa

Today the Chief Coroner released the provisional suspected suicide statistics for the year. We remember the 617 people who died by suspected suicide in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past year. We send aroha to everyone who has lost someone they loved and cared for, both recently and in the past, and we acknowledge this deep pain and loss. We thank the many thousands of people throughout Aotearoa who work tirelessly in their communities to prevent suicide and offer support to those who are grieving. Arohanui. Suicide is complex and there is never one reason why someone may take their life. Together, we can continue to focus on improving and strengthening the mental health and wellbeing of our whānau, friends and communities. Suicide prevention is in action when we build strong networks of connection, reduce the stigma around suicide, equip people to support themselves and each other, and offer hope. If you’re suicide bereaved and need to talk to someone today, or any day, contact Aoake te Rā, a free service for people bereaved by suicide: https://bit.ly/3YKQ6XP If you need help, you can call or text free helplines 24/7: https://bit.ly/4f4EmVD. For ways to support yourself, or someone you care about, visit our website for free, evidence-based suicide prevention resources: https://bit.ly/3TmrqBO He murimuri aroha ki ngā taonga kua riro Our deepest sympathy to loved ones.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s mental health law, the Mental Health Act, is changing — and there are many reasons why. We’ll be releasing six videos, with six separate reasons why, for the next six weekdays — starting today! Today’s video is about how outdated the Mental Health Act is. Seen as a progressive law in the ‘90s, many of the practices allowed under the Mental Health Act are simply not acceptable by today's health care standards. Watch our video above to find out more. Want to see more reasons why the Mental Health Act needs urgent change? Head to https://lnkd.in/gBpaTZTz to learn more.