Mental health money late on arrival

A$100 million fund to boost mental health will be welcomed with open arms by the sector, but the money is akin to a drop in the bucket. The money was earmarked in the May Budget, but it is only this week that the finer detail can be examined.

Dubbed the Mental Health Social Investment Fund, the money involved is divvied up into large allotments, the biggest being $25 million for ‘‘expanding and enhancing primary and community mental health and addiction care’’.

This is aimed at people who do not meet the threshold of specialist mental health services, but who could encounter problems down the track without some kind of intervention. There’s also an $11m package for a pilot scheme looking at mental health support in schools.

All up, there are 17 initiatives that the money will go towards. Despite that it’s hard to escape the conclusion that it’s simply not enough money being dedicated to the wider issue. The number of people treated for alcohol and other drugs – including methamphetamine – has spiked alarmingly, almost doubling to 46,000 in 2015/16 when compared with 2008/09.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says demand for serious mental health and addiction services has risen from 2.3 per cent of the population to 3.6 per cent over the past decade – that’s about 72,000 more people who are in need.

The true number of people who make contact with the mental health sector, of course, is much higher than that. Some estimates put it at 1 in 5 New Zealanders each year.

You would be hard pressed to find a New Zealander who hasn’t lived with a mental illness or at least know someone who has.

The largely pre-emptive measures within the initiatives are commendable, as it makes sense to invest in dealing with some of the known and proven triggers and causes of mental health matters rather than wait until it’s too late to intervene or help.

To the Government’s credit, it is also giving new ideas a go, such as $10m to electronic (e-therapy options), where people can access services and support via a smartphone or tablet.

Coleman seems strongly influenced and encouraged by the early evidence around e-therapies that have been used overseas.

The entire fund is not planned as a quick fix for the complex area of mental health and does not really address matters directly, such as reducing youth selfharm and suicide rates. Instead, the pilot-heavy nature of the initiatives feels like the Government is testing the waters, with the ability to pick up those schemes that work and drop those that don’t.

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson called the investment ‘‘a positive first step’’, but with the caveat that ‘‘this must only be the beginning’’ to deal with the huge gap in resources.

It is not as if the rise in demand for mental health services is a recent phenomenon or caught anyone by surprise – the Government’s own figures reveal that.

In the case of this new fund it’s a matter of too little, but it’s certainly not too late.

The entire fund is not planned as a quick fix to the complex area of mental health.