Appendix 1: How we did this audit

Meeting the mental health needs of young New Zealanders.

We carried out more than 150 interviews with about 400 people as part of our audit. We are grateful to everyone who took time to speak to us.

In addition to employees of the audited organisations, we spoke to a range of people and organisations within the mental health and addiction sectors. These included community (non-government organisation, Māori, and Pacific) providers of mental health and addiction services; Youth One Stop Shops; secondary schools; providers of Alternative Education and Attendance Services; primary health organisations and general practitioners; the government workforce development centres Te Pou, Whāraurau, and Le Va; sector advocacy groups, peak bodies, and professional associations; and a range of academics and other sector experts.

We are grateful to the staff from a range of other government agencies who spoke to us or provided input into or information for our audit. They include Te Hiringa Mahara Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, the Health and Disability Commission, the Education Review Office, Whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled People, the Health Quality & Safety Commission, the Accident Compensation Corporation, the Office of the Children's Commissioner, Te Pukenga, and the Ministry for Youth Development.

The interviews and document reviews for this audit were carried out from June to November 2022. Where newer or updated data or information has been published or made available to us by agencies, we have incorporated this in our report.

Our summary of key themes on what young people want in services is drawn from:

  • conversations with young people in youth advisory roles;
  • existing consultation documents based on young peoples' input and feedback on related topics; and
  • existing youth mental health research centring young peoples' views and perspectives.

We are grateful to the young people in youth advisory roles and to those who work with young people who spoke to us as part of our audit. They were:

  • members of the youth advisory team from Whāraurau;
  • youth consumer advisors employed in Te Whatu Ora/district health board roles;
  • representatives of disabled young people;
  • representatives of Deaf young people;
  • representatives of Rainbow young people; and
  • members of Youthline's youth advisory committee.

We are also grateful to Voyce Whakarongo Mai, which represents care-experienced young people, for providing us with a summary of its input to a previous government consultation on the preferences of care-experienced young people for mental health support.

We thank Dr Cameron Lacey, Romy Lee, and Dr Helen Lockett for independently reviewing our draft report.

Dr Cameron Lacey (Te Āti Awa) is a professor and psychiatrist within the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch. Cameron is also the Clinical Director of Research for Te Whatu Ora, Waitaha. Cameron is Principal Investigator on four Health Research Council-funded projects investigating mental illness among Māori.

Romy Lee is a young person and trained mental health and addiction practitioner. Romy is Youth Advisory/Peer Workforce Development Lead at Whāraurau, the national workforce centre for the infant, child, and youth mental health and addiction sector.

Dr Helen Lockett is a researcher and strategic advisor in mental health and addiction, with expertise in the areas of mental health and employment and physical health equity and epidemiology. Helen is currently strategic lead with Te Pou, the national workforce centre for mental health, addiction, and disability. Her role at Te Pou involves supporting ongoing collaborative work in the sector to scope a series of mental health and addiction prevalence studies.

Although we have drawn on their expertise to support our understanding of the mental health and addiction system, the judgements and recommendations in this report are entirely those of the Office of the Auditor-General.

The following documents and published research have been important in informing our summary of the key themes of what young people want in services:

  • Elliot, M (2017), People's Mental Health Report: A Crowdfunded, Crowdsourced Story-based Report.
  • Fleming, T et al (2022), What should be changed to support young people? The voices of young people involved with Oranga Tamariki.
  • Fleming, T et al (2020), Youth19: Youth Voice Brief.
  • Fraser, G et al (2022), "Mental health support experiences of rainbow rangatahi youth in Aotearoa New Zealand: results from a co-designed online survey", Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 52, no. 4, pages 472-489.
  • Gibson, K (2021), What Young People Want From Mental Health Services: A Youth Informed Approach for the Digital Age.
  • Hamley, L et al (2023), "Te Tapatoru: a model of whanaungatanga to support rangatahi wellbeing", Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, Vol. 18, no. 2, pages 171-194.
  • Orygen and the World Economic Forum (2020), A Global Framework for Youth Mental Health: Investing in Future Mental Capital for Individuals, Communities and Economies.
  • McGorry, P et. al. (2013), "Designing youth mental health services for the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK", The British Journal of Psychiatry, Issue 54, s30-5.
  • Mental Health and Addiction Wellbeing Cross-party Group (2023), Under One Umbrella: A report into integrated mental health, alcohol and other drug care for young people in New Zealand.
  • Society of Youth Health Professionals Aotearoa New Zealand and Te Tatau Kitenga (2021), School Based Health Services Enhancement Partnership: National Youth Committee of School Based Health Services.
  • Office of the Children's Commissioner (2019), What makes a good life? Children and young people's views on wellbeing.
  • Stubbing, J (2021), "Nobody has ever asked me that": Reimagining mental health care through collaborative research with young people from New Zealand.
  • Stubbing, J et al (2023), A summary of literature reflecting the perspectives of young people in Aotearoa on systemic factors affecting their wellbeing.
  • Stubbing, J and Gibson, K (2022), "What Young People Want from Clinicians: Youth-informed Clinical Practice in Mental Health Care", Youth, Vol. 2, no. 4, pages 538-555.
  • Stubbing, J and Gibson, K (2021), "Can We Build ‘Somewhere That You Want to Go'? Conducting Collaborative Mental Health Service Design with New Zealand's Young People", International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 18, no. 9.
  • Te Hiringa Mahara Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission (2023), Young people speak out about Wellbeing: An insights report into the Wellbeing of Rangatahi Māori and other Young People in Aotearoa.
  • Te Rourou, One Aotearoa Foundation (2023), I Feel Really Good When: Strengthening youth mental health and wellbeing in Murihiku Southland.
  • Whāraurau and DMC (2021), He Mana Taiohi: Understanding Mana Motuhake.
  • Whāraurau and DMC (2019 and 2022), Youth-Informed Transformation.