June 24, 2024
Youth mental health getting worse
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The Mental Health Foundation – Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – is calling on the government to commit to a plan to address the country’s worsening youth mental health crisis.
The latest Health Ministry annual survey has found over half of all New Zealanders aged 15-24 now experience anxiety or depression.
Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson says the trend has been going up since 2010 -and the percentage of young people with moderate to high distress has nearly doubled since 2016.
He says Matt Doocey is in a good position to act as he is minister of both Mental Health and Youth.
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What we are challenging the Minister to do is have a detailed, Implementation Plan that’s accountable that says ‘we’re going to aim to do this by then, and these people are responsible for making it happen’… to have that plan within a year.
Shaun Robinson says he wants to see Maori inequities addressed – because suspected self-inflicted deaths are still about about 2-point-6 times higher than for non-Māori.