The latest State of the Nation 2026 report confirms what counsellors across Aotearoa are seeing every day.

Youth mental distress has become entrenched, suicide remains a national tragedy, and our systems are failing to intervene early enough, says the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC).

The Salvation Army’s findings show that 22.9% of young people aged 15-24 are experiencing high or very high psychological distress, roughly three times higher than a decade ago.

Youth suicide rates remain elevated, and access to specialist mental health and addiction services varies significantly by region.

At the same time, the prison population is rising again, with high recidivism rates linked to trauma, violence and deeply entrenched harm.

NZAC President Huhana Pene says these findings should trigger urgent action.

“We are in danger of normalising crisis-level distress among our young people.”

Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death for young people, with Māori rangatahi disproportionately affected.

This would suggest, Pene says, that the mental health prevention system is underpowered and reactive.

“We continue to invest in crisis responses, and of course we should, but investing in early intervention is just as important.

“That means supporting school counsellors who are currently holding crisis-level workloads in systems that were designed decades ago.

“Funding models have not kept pace with the scale or complexity of need.”

NZAC’s own recent national survey highlights that social media is intensifying anxiety, body image concerns and cyberbullying pressures among rangatahi, while high-stress environments (including academic pressure, family stress and economic strain) are compounding mental health challenges.

“Our members are on the front line every day. We know what is happening in classrooms, in homes and in communities. And we know that incremental change doesn’t work.

“We should not accept that nearly a quarter of our young people are in serious psychological distress. That shouldn’t be New Zealand’s normal.”