Mental health and addiction service use – what the data shows webinar

Watch our third recording in the Te Huringa Tuarua webinar series - 12 October 2023. Get an overview of the Te Huringa Tuarua 2023 report, what changes need to be put in place and future monitoring work.

In May this year, we released Te Huringa Tuarua 2023 – our second monitoring report on mental health and addiction services. This report monitors publicly health-funded mental health and addiction services over the five-year period from 2017/18 to 2021/22, using a broad suite of data.

In this webinar, we shared selected findings from this report about changes in mental health and addiction service use. Overall, there has been a decrease in people accessing specialist services, primary mental health initiatives, telehealth, and online services in 2021/22. This follows a steady increase the four years prior. The exception to this trend is more people are accessing new services through the Access and Choice programme. The decrease in service use in parts of the system is unexpected given the public reports on increasing levels of distress.

We presented the data behind these findings and related measures, along with the changes we want to see happen. We also talked about future monitoring work to further explore mental health and addiction service use.

Who presented:

Tanya Maloney, Director Mental Health and Addiction System Leadership

In her role, Tanya provides strategic thought leadership and influence in the transformation of the mental health and addiction sector. Tanya originally trained as a clinical psychologist and has clinical experience in community, acute, and secure mental health settings. She has held mental health management roles in the NGO and DHB sector, including General Manager of mental health for Counties Manukau DHB. She has also had senior management roles in public health, women’s health, and child health, and executive roles in strategic planning and funding in Australia and Aotearoa.

Natalie Horspool, Principal Advisor Mental Health and Addiction Sector Leadership

Natalie leads the mental health and addiction service monitoring work within Te Hiringa Mahara. She joined the Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in 2020, which then became the permanent Commission in February 2021. Prior to this role, Natalie worked at the Health Quality and Safety Commission in the mental health and addiction quality improvement programme. She has a background in data, particularly mental health data, and is passionate about contributing to improved mental health outcomes for people in Aotearoa.