Hi John,

I’m writing to you today about mental health, which is an issue close to my heart and something you’ve probably heard me talk about before.

In all likelihood, it’s probably something which matters to you too. That’s not surprising, given that over half of us will be affected by a mental health issue in our lifetime, and if we’re not affected, someone we know will be. That’s one of the reasons our Government has made action to tackle New Zealand’s mental health crisis one of our top priorities.

And I’m glad to say, we’ve already made some progress, through things like:

- Helping more homeless New Zealanders into homes through Housing First, and providing social support for those who may face mental health issues;
- Expanding Piki, our youth mental health pilot;
- Recruiting more mental health nurses;
- And rolling out health teams into more secondary schools, and into every primary school in Canterbury and Kaikōura.

But there’s more to do.

Yesterday, I was up in Otara, confirming funding for frontline mental health services to be provided in local GPs’ clinics. It was another step towards our promise to roll-out free mental health, addiction and wellbeing support in every community over time.

And tomorrow, we’ll be releasing our Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan. Any death by suicide is one too many, and New Zealand’s rates of suicide are unacceptably high. An important focus of our plan is better supporting people struggling with mental health, more closely involving people with lived experience in our health system, and better supporting those bereaved by suicide.

Over the course of the week, the team and I will be making further announcements of ways we’re going to make further progress on tackling New Zealand’s mental health crisis.

It’s taken years of neglect of our health system to have a crisis like this – and it’s not going to be fixed overnight. But I really believe this is a crisis we can, over time, tackle. I’m proud we’re taking action – and I hope you are too. I’d love to hear what you think – you can let me know by emailing me at [email protected], or messaging me on Facebook.

Take care,

Jacinda Ardern

P.S. If you or someone you know needs help or support, call or text 1737 at any time <[link removed]>. <[link removed]> It’s a free service provided by the Ministry of Health.



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