Mana Ake: Mental Health Minister extends funding for trauma support programme initiated after Cyclone Gabrielle

More than 130 Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti schools will continue receiving mental health support services rolled out to help with trauma recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey announced a multimillion-dollar commitment to extend the Mana Ake programme on Thursday while visiting Hawke’s Bay mental health providers.

The programme provides mental health support to primary and intermediate school pupils, whānau and teachers.

It helps children learn skills such as coping with change or challenges, managing emotions, building positive relationships and overcoming grief and loss.

Guidance and workshops for parents, whānau and teachers are included to help them respond to and support children’s wellbeing needs.

“The Government has committed sustainable funding to the phased rollout of Mana Ake which will grow to $3.7 million a year by 2026-27,” Doocey said

“This will ensure these services will remain intact and available for young people needing mental wellbeing support.

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey committed to continuing funding for the Mana Ake school mental health programme in Hawke's Bay on Thursday.

Mana Ake was initially developed to support earthquake-affected communities in Christchurch and Kaikōura and has since been expanded to seven more areas nationwide.

As of May 31, over 78,600 sessions have been provided to children as part of Mana Ake since services started in 2018.

Once fully rolled out in Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti, it will be available to about 25,500 students in more than 130 primary and intermediate schools.

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Doocey said early intervention and prevention were among his key priorities as Mental Health Minister.

“I’ve committed to it in my mental health targets also, as we know it’s one of the best ways to increase access and encourage better mental wellbeing for young New Zealanders,” he said.

“Early intervention has the further advantage of setting up young New Zealanders to maintain better mental wellbeing throughout their lives. This is a strong example of a social return on investment.”

Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd and Napier MP Katie Nimon welcomed the announcement, saying Cyclone Gabrielle’s impact was still raw for many children in Hawke’s Bay.

“With the trauma that Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather-related events have inflicted on our communities, it beggars belief these services were set up with absolutely no ongoing financial certainty,” Wedd said.

“This was a fiscal cliff where these mental health services had no ongoing funding. But our Mental Health Minister is recognising that mental health services in schools across our region are so important and need focus and funding.”

Nimon said the Government had worked to ensure investment in mental health and wellbeing support programmes such as Mana Ake.

“Frankly, we should have never been in this position, where crucial mental health services were being stopped. I commend our minister for acknowledging the importance of these services for our region.”

Cyclone Gabrielle left the Nūhaka School grounds completely flooded, with many students still feeling mental health effects.

Raelene McFarlane, principal of Nūhaka School, saw the mental effects on her students and school whānau first hand when Cyclone Gabrielle displaced them from their classrooms.

She said it was “brilliant news” to see the funding extended.

“It’ll be absolutely fantastic to have ongoing long-term support for the students who need it most, which has been the hardest area of support to access.

“For a lot of us who hadn’t gone through a disaster of this magnitude before, we weren’t aware of how long the grief or trauma lasts and the cyclic effect that it has.”

McFarlane said winter had been hard for tamariki, and if there were continued days of heavy rain, many students would stay home because they “don’t know if they will be able to get home”.

“The level of anxiety probably hasn’t reduced as much as people would have expected. There are not really any rules for how quickly you get over something like this, but it surprised me how long-lasting these effects are for all of us.

“To extend a programme like this that has the potential to really make a difference is huge.”

Hawke’s Bay-based NZ Psychological Society member and practitioner Jonathan Black said early intervention was always a good investment when well targeted and supported.

“Security of funding should assist improved mental health outcomes through enhanced planning and security of supplying programmes and initiatives, along with ongoing support for wellbeing at school level.”

Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community.