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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.
It’s a free service provided by the Ministry of Health.
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