A safe, supportive and accessible care system.
The Green Party will work to address the drivers of poor mental health, and ensure everyone can get safe, culturally relevant care when they need it.
Aotearoa should be a place where anyone in distress can access support, no matter where they are.
But right now, demand is skyrocketing, services are fragmented and workforce shortages are leading to long wait times and staff burnout. Prioritising private care in the mental health sector has led to increased costs and wait times too.
Our high rates of social inequality, child poverty, family violence, homelessness and climate anxiety are driving mental distress in our communities, particularly for young people.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the tools to support liveable incomes, provide trauma support and end homelessness in this country to promote better mental health. We know what we need to do to face the existential threat of climate change head-on.
The Green Party will expand free services so cost is never a barrier. We will provide more funding to kaupapa Māori and Māori centred youth services so care is culturally relevant to our communities.
The mental health workforce will receive more support, staffing and funding to reduce burnout. This will allow harmful practices like seclusion to be phased out, to ensure acute mental health care is rehabilitative, not harmful.
Our plan
- Expand free mental health services to all communities so everyone can access support when they need it. This includes expanding youth services like Piki, Mana Ake and Youth One Stop Shops throughout Aotearoa, Asian Family Services and dedicated support for postnatal mental health.
- Implement the recommendations of the Every Life Matters – He Tapu te Oranga o ia Tangata Suicide Prevention Strategy, together with further actions identified as part of the kaupapa Māori response to suicide prevention with particular focus on people under 24.
- Implement community care models and ensure mental health facilities are resourced adequately to enable phasing out the use of seclusion (solitary confinement) entirely, and increase the availability of early intervention to reduce the use of compulsory care.
- Fund kaupapa Māori mental health and addiction programmes and ensure rangatahi Māori voice is represented in policy.
- Link primary health and secondary mental health services with clear referral pathways in every health region and focus on areas which have disproportionate need.