More than 164,000 free counselling sessions for young New Zealanders represent thousands of moments when somebody struggling was able to reach for help without worrying about the cost — and new I Am Hope chief executive Nick Baylis says keeping that door open will be central to the organisation’s next chapter.
Baylis has taken over the chief executive role at I Am Hope Foundation, working alongside founder and mental health advocate Mike King as the organisation continues to grow its flagship Gumboot Friday counselling programme.
The leadership change comes with Gumboot Friday now firmly established as one of Aotearoa’s most recognisable youth mental health initiatives.
I Am Hope says more than 164,000 counselling sessions have now been funded. Its publicly available website currently describes the milestone more conservatively as more than 150,000 sessions delivered since 2019, meaning the 164,000 figure supplied by the organisation reflects its more recent count.
But behind the numbers sits a much larger challenge.
For many young people, particularly rangatahi Māori, finding help quickly enough can still be the difference between struggling alone and having somebody there when they need them.
A new chief executive, but the mission remains
Baylis takes the reins following King’s decision to step away from the chief executive position while remaining closely connected with the kaupapa he helped create.
The challenge for the new CEO is now to take an organisation built around a highly visible founder and ensure it can continue expanding sustainably while retaining the simplicity that helped make Gumboot Friday successful.
That model is straightforward.
A young person needs help.
They choose a counsellor.
Gumboot Friday pays.
The programme is available to anyone in New Zealand aged 25 and under, with both face-to-face and online counselling available. Young people can select from qualified professionals on the platform, with Gumboot Friday covering the cost directly rather than requiring the young person to navigate complicated funding processes.
That barrier-free philosophy is at the heart of what Baylis is inheriting.
No referral maze before asking for help
One of Gumboot Friday’s defining differences is its attempt to remove some of the obstacles young people can encounter when seeking mental health support.
The service allows rangatahi to browse counsellor profiles and choose professionals based on factors that matter to them, including gender, language, cultural background, therapeutic approach and areas of experience.
That ability to choose can be particularly important in mental healthcare.
A counselling appointment is not simply a transaction.
Trust matters.
Feeling culturally safe matters.
Being comfortable enough to talk openly matters.
And for rangatahi Māori, access to someone who understands their cultural and spiritual background can make an enormous difference to whether they remain engaged with support.
Gumboot Friday says it is a bridge, not the whole system
I Am Hope is also clear that Gumboot Friday is not intended to replace the public mental health system.
The organisation describes its counselling service as a bridge between immediate need and existing government services, particularly when young people are facing long waits for care.
That distinction is important.
Charities cannot be expected to carry the responsibility of a national mental health system.
But when a young person reaches out for help, telling them to wait weeks or months can undermine the very reason they finally asked.
Gumboot Friday’s model attempts to intervene in that gap.
The organisation currently says the average mental health practitioner session it funds costs around $155, while its average monthly counselling disbursement over the previous 12 months has been more than $435,000.
That demonstrates both the scale of the programme and the scale of demand.
For rangatahi Māori, the numbers remain confronting
The need for accessible mental healthcare takes on even greater urgency when viewed through a Māori lens.
Ministry of Health data for 2018–2020 recorded a suicide mortality rate among Māori aged 15 to 24 of 30.5 deaths per 100,000, compared with 15.2 per 100,000 among non-Māori in the same age group.
Among young Māori males, the rate was even higher at 35.7 per 100,000.
Those figures underline an inequity that has persisted across generations.
And while statistics can describe the scale of the problem, they can sometimes obscure what each death actually represents.
A rangatahi.
A son or daughter.
A mokopuna.
A sibling.
A friend.
A kura, workplace, sports team, marae and whānau left carrying the loss.
Earlier help has to become the goal
That is why Baylis and I Am Hope’s focus on getting young people support earlier matters.
Mental healthcare cannot operate solely at the point of crisis.
The earlier anxiety, depression, trauma, grief or overwhelming stress can be addressed, the greater the opportunity to prevent distress escalating.
Gumboot Friday says its mission is to provide young people aged five to 25 with free and timely counselling, particularly when cost and waiting times would otherwise become barriers.
That philosophy also challenges a wider assumption about mental health services.
Young people should not have to become sick enough to qualify for help.
Public funding has changed the scale — demand has not disappeared
Gumboot Friday now receives public funding, but the organisation continues fundraising because it says demand for free counselling continues to grow.
The next national Gumboot Friday is scheduled for November 6, 2026, with communities, schools, businesses and supporters being encouraged to pull on their gumboots and raise money for counselling.
The organisation says donations deposited directly into the Gumboot Friday fund go towards counselling for young people.
For Baylis, that creates a dual challenge.
He must protect public confidence in the charity and demonstrate that funding is translating into measurable help, while also ensuring Gumboot Friday can respond as more young people seek support.
The next 164,000 sessions
There is something powerful about the simplicity of Gumboot Friday’s model.
It does not promise to solve every cause of youth distress.
It cannot eliminate poverty, housing insecurity, family violence, discrimination or every other factor influencing mental wellbeing.
And it cannot replace a properly functioning public mental health service.
What it can do is make sure that when a young person decides they need somebody to talk to, money does not automatically stand between them and a counsellor.
That is the kaupapa Nick Baylis now inherits.
More than 164,000 counselling sessions demonstrate the scale already achieved.
But in a country where rangatahi continue to experience profound mental health inequities, the bigger question is how many more young people still need that door opened.
For I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday, the next phase is not simply about growing an organisation. It is about making asking for help easier, getting support earlier and ensuring no young person is left believing they have to carry everything alone.
If you or somebody you know needs immediate mental health support, free call or text 1737 at any time to speak with a trained counsellor. In an emergency, call 111.
#NickBaylis #IAmHope #GumbootFriday #MikeKing #YouthMentalHealth #MentalHealthNZ #MentalHealth #Rangatahi #RangatahiMaori #MaoriMentalHealth #HauoraMaori #SuicidePrevention #YouthSuicidePrevention #Counselling #FreeCounselling #MentalHealthSupport #EarlyIntervention #Whanau #WhanauOra #Tamariki #Mokopuna #HealthEquity #KaupapaMaori #Wellbeing #YouthWellbeing #GumbootUpNZ #Aotearoa #TeAoMaori #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea
