School mental health initiative extended

WELLINGTON: The Government is funding the promised rollout of its inschool mental health and wellbeing programme, Mana Ake, to five more regions as part of this year’s Budget.

Health and Associate Education Ministers Andrew Little and Jan Tinetti announced yesterday $90 million in the Budget would result in Mana Ake being expanded to Northland, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Lakes and the West Coast.

The programme has so far operated in Canterbury including Kaikoura after the earthquakes there, giving 10,500 schoolchildren access to psychologists, counsellors, social and youth workers, in classroom, group, and individual settings, at their schools.

It was designed in partnership with iwi, schools, and local social and health services.

Labour promised at the election to expand the mental health support to all schools, saying it would take five years to introduce.

The Government said the areas had been chosen based on a mix of demographics and workforce capacity.

Youth mental health is also part of the Cooperation Agreement between Labour and the Greens.

Mr Little and Ms Tinetti said the funding would allow it to support 195,000 more children in the five regions. They hoped the first would be running this year, and the rest by the end of 2024.

Mr Little said it gave children the skills and support to deal with issues that include grief, loss, parental separation, and bullying, and provided advice, guidance and workshops for parents, whanau and teachers.

‘‘Mana Ake empowers children with resilience and support . . . ,’’ Mr Little said.