Meeting the mental health needs of young New Zealanders
Summary of our report
Read our short summary of why we did this work, what we found, and what needs to happen next.
Auditor-General's overview
The mental health services and support currently available to young people is fragmented, and not all young people have timely and barrier-free access to appropriate mental health care. In a country that prides itself on being a good place to bring up children and young people, this is a matter we should all be concerned about.
Video summary
In this video, Senior Performance Auditor Rachel Patrick shares findings from our report.
What's in this report?
We have made nine recommendations to the government agencies that support or provide services to young people with mental health concerns.
In Part 1, we set out why we did the audit, what we looked at, and how we carried out the audit.
In Part 2, we assess how well government agencies understand the mental health needs of young people.
In Part 3, we assess how well government agencies are meeting the mental health needs of young people.
In Part 4, we discuss how well government agencies are working together to understand and meet the needs of three groups of young people who experience a greater risk of mental health concerns.
In Part 5, we assess the progress of government agencies in addressing system constraints affecting mental health services for young people.
The appendices cover: