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New blueprint for mental health unveiled

14 June 2012

New blueprint for mental health unveiled

The Mental Health Commission is recommending that more people should be able to access mental health and addiction services in the future, and that those who need help should receive it immediately.

The recommendations are among many contained in the Mental Health Commission’s Blueprint II, a vision for how New Zealand can improve the way it supports and helps people with mental health and addiction issues over the coming decade.

Blueprint II has been developed over the past year and includes significant input from across the mental health and addiction community.

Chair Commissioner, Dr Lynne Lane said, “There have been significant improvements in the way we deal with mental health and addiction in the last 10 years. But we know we still have to do much better, particularly for younger people.

“We need to create an environment where all of us involved in mental health and addiction can do more with the funds, workforce, infrastructure and energy we already have. In short, we need to make sure we have a sustainable sector for the future.”

Key recommendations in Blueprint II include:

• Broadening access to support for more people and responding earlier in the development of mental health and addiction problems
• Developing more integrated models of care across a range of services, with a focus on people keeping well, recovery and remaining connected to their family/whānau and society
• Putting people and their families/whānau at the heart of mental health and addiction services
• Achieving better outcomes with the same level of resources by making better use of them

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More details (including copies of Blueprint II documents) are available on the Mental Health Commission website www.mhc.govt.nz.

About The Mental Health Commission

• Our vision: the best mental health and wellbeing for all.
• The Mental Health Commission’s purpose is to contribute to mental health and wellbeing for all New Zealanders. It aims to improve mental health and addiction services and to influence society’s overall response to mental health issues.
• The Commission works to achieve this vision by serving as an independent monitor and advocate for people with experience of mental distress and/or addiction, and for their families, whānau.
• Over the past decade the Commission’s vision and leadership has contributed to internationally recognised gains in New Zealand’s mental health and addiction sector.

About Blueprint Ii

• The Mental Health Commission’s original 1998 Blueprint guided mental health and addiction resourcing and service development for over a decade, playing a crucial role in increasing investment in specialist services, with a focus on recovery.
• Many aspects of the original Blueprint are now out of date and a review and renewal are required.
• Blueprint II updates the direction set in the first Blueprint to meet the contemporary challenges of the impact of mental health and addiction issues on society as a whole, and supporting an ageing and increasingly diverse population with limited resources.

Blueprint II documents can be found on the Mental Health Commission website www.mhc.govt.nz at: http://www.mhc.govt.nz/blueprint-ii-0

ENDS

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