This paper sets out the Mental Health Foundation’s (MHF) position on the current and future use of restraint in specialist mental health facilities across Aotearoa.
The MHF does not support the use of restraint in mental health services, and we advocate for:
- In the short term, additional scrutiny and improved national reporting to stop the inequitable use of restraint practices on certain population groups, particularly tāngata whaiora Māori.
- In the long term, the absolute minimisation of restraint practices within ten years of the forthcoming new mental health legislation coming into force.
Minimising restraint (pdf)