Children and young people are happy and healthy
Budget 2019 provided funding to enhance primary mental health and addiction responses across New Zealand to expand access and choice of mental health and addiction support, in particular for New Zealanders with mild to moderate needs.
This included:
- sustaining and expanding existing primary mental health and addiction services and pilots, and developing new services
- expanding workforce capacity and capability
- collaboratively designing core components of enhanced responses for priority population groups (Māori, people with lived experience of mental health and addiction, Pacific peoples, young people, the rainbow community and people living in rural areas)
- establishing implementation infrastructure.
Youth-specific primary mental health and addiction services have been established in 10 District Health Board areas.
In September 2022, it was announced that the Access and Choice mental health and addiction programme had hit the milestone of half a million mental health sessions delivered Find out more
Mental health and wellbeing services for tertiary students
Additional funding through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund expanded and accelerated frontline mental health and wellbeing services at tertiary education institutes to help students manage ongoing stresses related to COVID-19. The funding builds on the existing roll out of free primary mental health and wellbeing services for youth aged 12-24 years.
The initial roll-out of additional mental health and wellbeing services to tertiary students was completed in November 2022. Find out more
Find out more about the Access and Choice mental health and addiction programme