Source: Radio New Zealand
Matt Doocey. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Warning: this story discusses sensitive topics relating to mental health and suicide.
A new youth mental health respite service is set to open in Northland later this year in response to a damning coroner’s report into a youth suicide cluster.
Announcing the new service in Whangārei on Wednesday morning, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the new service would help de-escalate mental health crises, give young people support earlier and provide an alternative to hospital admission.
He said the government would also fund three extra youth suicide prevention coordinator roles across the mid and Far North.
Doocey said last year’s coroner’s report into the deaths of six young Northlanders – one of whom was just 12 years old – was “heartbreaking and damning”.
He said he disagreed with Health New Zealand’s initial response to the report, and it was clear too many young Northlanders were “falling through the cracks”.
“Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare,” he said.
The report, by Coroner Tania Tetitaha, found a multitude of barriers were stopping young people and their whānau accessing suicide prevention services in Northland.
They included the large number of different agencies involved in suicide prevention, which created difficulties with information sharing and confusion for families trying to navigate between them.
The result was that young people at risk were getting lost in the system.
Coroner Tetitaha also found funding for front-line youth suicide prevention was inadequate, and the region’s child and adolescent mental health service was overwhelmed by a massive workload.
Doocey said the new service and extra roles would create a “more connected and less fragmented system”, increase the workforce, and “help guide young people to right support at the right time”.
The aim was to have the new service in place in October, and certainly by the end of the year.
No decision had been made as yet where in Northland the new acute youth respite service would be based.
The total cost would be $1.7 million per year, which would come out of the existing mental health and addiction budget.
The suicide cluster at the centre of Coroner Tetitaha’s report occurred in 2018-20. The month-long inquest was held in November 2024 and her report was released in December last year.
At the time of the inquest, Te Roopu Kimiora, the region’s child and adolescent mental health service, was treating 700 young people with moderate to high risk of self-harm, and receiving three to four new patients a week.
Each of its clinicians had about 40 patients, which was “well above” the average caseload for New Zealand. That meant schools were increasingly carrying the burden of supporting rangatahi at risk of suicide, but they were not sufficiently funded to employ counsellors and social workers.
As a result, schools were having to dig into their operational budgets.
When the coroner’s report came out in December, Paula Mills – mother of Summer Metcalfe, who died aged 15 – told RNZ she hoped the recommendations would be acted on.
She said that would not bring any children back, but could help families desperately trying to get help for their children in future.
“It’s tragic, absolutely tragic, so if we can do anything to help these rangatahi and their whānau, let’s do it. The coroner’s made some really good recommendations, let’s get them implemented.”
Where to get help:
- Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
- Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
- Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
- Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202
- Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)
- Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz|
- What’s Up: free counselling for 5 to 19 years old, online chat 11am-10.30pm 7 days/week or free phone 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 11am-11pm
- Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm or text 832 Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English.
- Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
- Healthline: 0800 611 116
- Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
- OUTLine: 0800 688 5463 (6pm-9pm)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand