Leave no-one behind
Improvements to mental health system must deliver for the people being left behind
Those working in mental health and addiction across Aotearoa New Zealand have long known that the system is strongest when it is easy to reach, equipped to respond to people in ways that make sense to them, and treats people and whānau with dignity when they need help. The challenge is not defining the vision. Instead, it is delivering that vision, at pace and at scale.
Māori and young people are still being left behind.
While this is not new, it is disappointing. Māori make up around 30 percent of people using specialist mental health and addiction services, yet only around 15 percent of Health New Zealand’s mental health and addiction workforce is Māori. Around 9 percent of mental health and addiction funding goes to kaupapa Māori specialist services, and that share has decreased over the past five years. Unmet mental health need remains high for Māori at 16 percent, compared with 10.5 percent for all adults. In real terms, that means Māori are still not receiving the level of culturally grounded support and leadership needed to match the scale of need.
Coercive practices
The system is also still relying too heavily on coercive practices. Māori are secluded at 6.6 times the rate of non-Māori, and the rate of community treatment orders for Māori is more than twice the rate for the total population.
For Māori, system improvement must mean more than better access to mainstream services. It means having services run by and for Māori, grounded in values that centre the strength, capability and inherent mana of tangata whenua. It means understanding wellbeing in the context of hāpori, hapū and whānau, and supporting stronger connections to whānau, culture and community. We know all of this makes a difference for the lifelong outcomes of those who recieve care.
Te Hiringa Mahara has long called for a commitment to sustained and equitable resourcing for kaupapa Māori and other culturally appropriate services for tāngata whaiora and whānau, alongside full implementation of the Access and Choice programme, especially kaupapa Māori, Pacific and youth services. We must also see a growing workforce, particularly lived experience and Māori leadership, and a credible plan to eliminate seclusion and other coercive practices.
In the past few years, there has been progress.
- The Health New Zealand adult mental health and addiction workforce increased from 7,163 staff in 2024 to 7,316 in 2025, and vacancies reduced from 9.8 percent to 7.6 percent.
- New mental health professionals are also steadily increasing, with 514 people in 2025.
But workforce growth alone will not deliver equity if the system does not invest in the services, leadership and models of care that Māori and whānau say work for them.
Weighing up have where things are at for Māori, the Commission has made new recommendations calling for a pathway to eliminating seclusion and collection of outcomes and experience data from people engaging with mental health and addiction services. This must include specific data collection for Māori and other high needs populations.
Beyond the specific recommendations raised here, it is beholden on people working in all parts of the system to stress the importance of sustained and equitable resourcing for kaupapa Māori and other culturally appropriate services for tāngata whaiora and whānau. We encourage you to use our latest findings and the widely documented benefits of this approach to strengthen your advocacy.
Read and download a copy of the 2026 System performance monitoring report:
