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Strategic Direction

Te Tāhuhu – Improving Mental health 2005-2015
Our mental health is important. It enables us to seize new opportunities, overcome challenges and reach our potential. It also helps us to make the most of our families, our friendships, our jobs, our communities and to live our lives to the full.

However, none of us can afford to take our mental health for granted. One in five New Zealanders experience a mental illness or an addiction, and this takes a huge toll on individuals and their families, on society and on the economy. Consequently, Mental Health is a priority health area for the Government .

In June 2005, the Government launched Te Tāhuhu – Improving Mental Health 2005-2015: The Second New Zealand Mental Health and Addiction Plan. As a Plan for the mental wellbeing of all New Zealanders, Te Tāhuhu signified a new era for mental health and addiction policy, providing a new sense of direction for the ongoing modernisation and continued development of the mental health and addiction sector.

In a clear and unambiguous way, Te Tāhuhu sets out the outcomes (results) that the Government wants to achieve for

people who experience mental illness and/or have addictions,
their families/whānau and friends, and
all New Zealanders

Te Tāhuhu also identifies ten leading challenges in respect of the mental health and addiction sector which need to be met if the sector is to grow and thrive. Those challenges include broadening the range of services for people who are severely affected by mental illness; improving our understanding of Māori models of mental health and wellbeing; meeting the needs of an ethnically diverse society, and ensuring primary health care workers play their part in recognising early signs of mental illness and/or addiction.

Te Kōkiri: The Mental Health and Addiction Action Plan 2006-2015
In 2006, in order to ensure that Government priorities expressed in Te Tāhuhu were put into action, the Government launched Te Kōkiri: The Mental Health and Addiction Action Plan 2006-2015 . Te Kōkiri sets the programme of action to be achieved so that we meet the outcomes that all New Zealanders want for people who use mental health and/or addiction services as well as for their families and whānau.

The aim of Te Tāhuhu and the action plan, Te Kōkiri, is to encourage and assist both government and non-government (NGO) service providers to work more closely together, to jointly develop solutions to problems, and to work towards improving outcomes for people with experience of mental illness and/or addiction.