Health, not haste

Why police need to slow down, not speed up their mental health plans

by Shaun Robinson, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand 

We rely on our police force to keep us safe from harm and danger. It’s a job they largely do well and one we’re grateful for. However, a decision about the sorts of callouts they’ll attend, could put tens of thousands of New Zealanders at risk.  

11% of all calls to the Police are mental health-related - that’s one mental health callout every seven minutes. Calling 111 is often someone’s first port of call when they, or someone they love, is experiencing a mental health crisis. The other option is the local mental health crisis assessment team who, it has been well documented, are often strained and have limited capacity.   

The Police provide a critical role in helping people access mental health support and ensuring their safety during what is often one of the toughest moments in a person’s life, and an incredibly stressful time for their loved ones.    

But from the middle of this month, the Police will push ahead with the next stage of their planned transition away from this work. Running in parallel, Police and health agencies have started to develop a five-year transition plan that began last year. Moving from a police response to a health response to mental health crisis is good in theory, but very little has been done to fill the gap on the ground. There is no alternative to the Police yet in place and until there is, police withdrawal is irresponsible. 

I get it. It’s not the Police’s core job to respond to most mental health callouts, especially where there is no risk to life or safety. They don’t have the specialist training required, and their presence, however well-intentioned, can frighten people in distress and escalate the trauma they face.  

We’ve been saying for years that the Police are not the right people. But, for now, they’re the best we’ve got. 

The Solution

The Government can fix this – specifically, the Minister of Police, Mark Mitchell, and the Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey.  

However, I don’t have confidence in whatever plan these Ministers will claim to have. There’s no evidence of a detailed health plan or alternative mental health crisis service, and no funding commitment to support either one.  

Instead, there’s a broad and vague assumption that the mental health system will somehow plug the gaps that the planned Police withdrawal will create. This is frankly ridiculous. Health is stretched beyond capacity. Staff vacancies are growing and emergency departments, which will see the next stage of reduced police support, are massively under the pump. The 70,000 New Zealanders and their families who currently call the police when they need support, deserve a well-resourced, properly funded mental health response service. These are vulnerable people who deserve our compassion and care.  

Replacing Police involvement to mental health responses will require a range of funded initiatives. For example, we want a crisis response that involves trained mental health professionals, peer support workers, paramedics, social workers and community-led teams. Responders who have specialist training to de-escalate distress and reduce the risk of unnecessary force or restraint.  

We know this approach works. There have been successful trials underway both in Aotearoa and internationally. But it will take at least three to five years of solid investment and training to build this workforce and system nationally. Until it is fully built, it is dangerous and ill-considered for Police to be stepping back.   

There’s been a similar move by Police in the UK. But there the government invested an extra £1 billion a year to replace police officers, including funding specialist mental health ambulances, and crisis cafés where people struggling to cope can drop in for help.  

What’s the risk?

Without a similar well-documented plan and hefty investment from our Government the risk is too great, the danger too monumental.  

Even talking about Police withdrawing is causing confusion and danger. People are calling the police to be told they should call the mental health crisis team to be told they should call the police. Everyone, police, public, mental health services need iron cast clarity before something goes seriously wrong.  

This planned Police withdrawal has to stop in its tracks.  

At the Mental Health Foundation, we have launched a petition calling for the Minister of Police to stop the planned Police withdrawal, until an alternative service is in its place. The petition also calls for the Minister for Mental Health to publicly share a fully developed and costed health plan to support this transition, including how this transition will be funded in Budget 2025.  

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?  

I hope you and your loved ones will sign – if not for yourselves, for the person next to you who may just need urgent mental health support and not be able to access it.  

Every year, it is our privilege to talk with thousands of New Zealanders about mental health. You talk to us kanohi ki te kanohi when we’re out in the community, DM us on social media, write us emails, respond to our resources or call us on the phone.

Through kōrero with you and through our work with others in the mental health sector, we have some understanding of how New Zealanders are doing at the moment, and we have a picture of the challenges many are facing. Our role is to listen and then to advocate for meaningful change in Aotearoa, and today we’ve released our Election 2020 position statement. It’s a call to action to politicians, asking them to come up with a plan to implement He Ara Oranga.

He Ara Oranga is the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction. Published in November 2018, it is an ambitious new blueprint for mental health and addiction in Aotearoa.

The Government accepted, accepted in principle or agreed to further consideration of 38 of the 40 recommendations made by the inquiry panel, but we’re still waiting on a plan of implementation for many of the recommendations.

Since the report was published, COVID-19 has created new challenges for our mental health, but we still believe He Ara Oranga is the best guide we have to protect wellbeing and support people experiencing mental distress.

So, we’re asking for a plan. We know it’s not as immediately sympathetic as calling for new beds in mental health units or more hours of funded counselling. But a plan will ensure we get those things and that the factors that can cause or contribute to poor mental health – including (but not limited to) racism, colonisation, discrimination, family violence, poor housing, bullying and isolation – can be addressed in a meaningful way.

We want to see a clear, long-term implementation plan that specifies ongoing investment in mental health and wellbeing. We want to see timelines, measures, targets (including equity resourcing and actions) and evaluation plans.The plan needs to show how the recommendations either agreed in principle by the government (or as requiring further consideration), will move from principles to action. And, it will need to be transparent and show how the sector and communities can contribute to its success.

We have ten ‘do now’ priority areas we want to see put into action.

In the next few weeks leading up to the election we will be meeting with MPs and candidates to talk them through these priority areas and encourage them to commit to implementing He Ara Oranga. At every step of the way we will be thinking of everyone in Aotearoa who is currently experiencing a mental health problem, who is feeling suicidal, or who is mourning someone lost to suicide. If that’s you, know you are our priority. We want to create a better Aotearoa for you, and we believe that solid policy is the way to do that.

This wero represents a lot of work for the next government, but we believe it is essential. COVID-19 has created and will continue to cause unprecedented strain on our collective mental health, there is no doubt about that. But it also presents us with an opportunity: to reimagine wellbeing together. To be courageous and bold enough to create an Aotearoa where inequities are acknowledged and addressed, health is considered across all policy decisions and the meaning of wellbeing is one we define together.

We’d love to hear what you think. Email us on policyandadvocacy@mentalhealth.org.nz