Shaun Robinson: Mental Health Foundation CEO on the Government's new 5-year plan to lower suicide rates

The Government's having another crack at mental health, allocating $36 million to suicide prevention. 

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey's unveiled a five-year approach for addressing high suicide rates.  

The new Suicide Prevention Plan includes strengthening the workforce, targeting higher-risk populations, and improving community care.  

But Mental Health Foundation CEO Shaun Robinson told Mike Hosking they remain in a very resource-constrained environment. 

He says everyone will do their best with what's available from the Government, but a lot more is needed. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the government's having another crackit mental health. We've got
a new suicide Prevention Action Plan. This is a five
year old of government approach. Thirty six million's been set aside,
prevention fund for rural and young people, crisis recovery cafes,
expanding suicide prevention training. Sewan Robinson is the Mental Health
Foundation boss and is back well the shew and good
morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
You like what you see? Is this any different or
more of the same.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'd say we're grateful for small mercies. I think this
plan does take us forward in some areas, and there
is some new resource applied to it, but we are
in a very resource constrained environment at the moment when
there's not a lot of funding from government around. So yeah,

(00:47):
well everybody will do their best with what's available here,
but there's a lot more that could be done.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
How much is needed? I mean we got one point
nine and what was it, the famous you know, the
Goodwill budget or the good Living over the hell Grant
Robertson called it's another thirty So how much is needed?
How many billions do you need?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, look, mental health is a huge issue across the
whole New Zealand population, and it's been undercooked and under
resourced and underscoped for decades, in fact forever really, So
you know, people may think that one point nine billion

(01:26):
was a huge number and should have fixed everything.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
But well, it is a huge number.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well it is a big number, but you know, when
you consider what gets spent on the whole of health,
you know, it's it's not a very big number. But
you know, we're talking here about an additional nineteen million
a year going into suicide prevention, which brings the whole

(01:53):
budget around suicide prevention you know, up to under forty
million a year. So that's not a very big number
for what is one of the biggest causes of preventable
death in New Which.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Was my next question. Are we an outlier in the
Western world? Is there something wrong with our mental health
that we're particularly vulnerable or are we just like every
other Western country.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, look, we're not as much of an outlier as
people portray it. That rising suicide numbers or persistently high
suicide is a global issue. We have particularly high youth suicide,
but again we're not the only country in the world
that has that issue. So it's not quite true that

(02:39):
New Zealand is just getting this completely wrong. That doesn't
mean that we don't need to do everything we can
to reduce these numbers. Now, on the other hand, the
numbers have been starting to come down a bit in
the last three or four years. You know, they're still
persistently high, but we need to remember that there are

(03:03):
far more stories of hope than there are of the spare. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Good, well, I'm encouraged a boy that really quickly because
I'm sure on time. Is it pure money or is
it resource as well? In other words, you could have
the money, you just can't get the people.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Look, it's a bit of both.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
You need the money in order to train and hire
the people, but you know, definitely more money to create
more services, to do more training, to put more training
into school so young people are able to cope with
emotions and with life's curve board. All of those things
are important.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Fantastic, Sean, appreciate your time, Good luck with the work.
Shawn Robinson, Mental Health Foundation. Head for more from the
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