Hon Matt
Doocey
Minister for Mental Health
The
Government is delivering on reducing wait times and growing
the frontline mental health and addiction workforce, one
year on from the country’s first dedicated workforce plan,
Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey says.
“From
day one, I’ve been clear that the biggest barrier to
timely support is workforce shortages. That’s why
publishing New Zealand’s first Mental Health and Addiction
Workforce Plan in this Government’s first year was so
important, and we are already seeing results,” Mr Doocey
says.
“Over the past year, the frontline Health NZ
workforce has grown by around 10 per cent. Overall vacancy
rates and wait times are down, and we’ve seen strong
growth in key areas. This includes:
- 349 extra
frontline mental health and addiction workers beginning
training in clinical professions in semester one
alone - New peer support roles expanding into eating
disorder services, emergency departments, and Crisis
Recovery Cafes - Approval of a new psychology
assistant role, with training to begin in
2026 - Universities have opened more clinical places
on mental health training programmes
“Budget
2025 provided increased funding for psychology internships
and stage one psychiatry registrars, and we’re already
seeing the impact. We set a goal of 60 new clinical
psychology interns in 2025, we have surpassed that with 74
now employed, delivering on our commitment to double the
number of clinical internship places.
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“We have also
made it a priority to grow the number of stage one
psychiatrist registrar training positions available each
year, it has gone from 33 in 2024 to 54 in
2026.
“It’s fitting to be releasing the updated
plan at the Addiction Leadership Day today. Two weeks ago,
the Government announced its plan to combat meth harm,
allocating $30 million to increase the number of available
services, including $6 million to grow the frontline
addiction workforce.
“At the one-year mark, it’s
appropriate that Health NZ is updating the Plan. This gives
us the opportunity to acknowledge early gains, introduce new
actions, and target workforce pressures.
“The
updated plan continues the Government’s focus on faster
access to support, more frontline workers, and a stronger
crisis response.
“When someone takes the brave step
of reaching out for help, workforce should never be a
barrier. Whether it’s you, your child, a friend, or a
family member, this Government is committed to making sure
support is
there.”
Notes:
- The
updated Mental Health and Addiction Workforce Plan can be
found here. - The
next quarterly reporting will have the full 2025 academic
year result against the target of training 500 mental health
and addiction professionals each
year.
