May 26, 2023
Mental health workforce on brink of collapse
Otago University’s Department of Psychological Medicine is warning have New Zealand’s mental health workforce is on the brink of collapse.
In an editorial in this week’s New Zealand Medical Journal, Associate Professor James Foulds, Dr Ben Beaglehole and Professor Roger Mulder say there are more than 800 vacancies, putting a huge strain on frontline staff.
Money put in to train more workers or to bring in people from overseas isn’t working.
Dr Foulds says the sector needs to attract a different range of people than the traditional workforce, including getting more Maori in leadership roles.
“One of the issues we’ve got currently with Maori in the workforce, not only are there not enough but they tend to be more employed in casual positions – whether that’s to do with biases or racism I couldn’t say – but I think we need more Maori in both permanent positions and in senior roles,” he says.
Dr Foulds says knowledge of tikanga Maori and Pacific culture is important for workers in the sector as well as good social skills and the ability to work in teams.