Hannah was far from alone.
About one in three young Gisborne people (35.4%) reported experiencing moderate psychological distress in the last three calendar years (2022-25), according to a Ministry of Health survey.
That was nearly 10 percentage points, or about 40%, higher than the national average for those aged between 15 and 24 over the same period (25.6%).
The New Zealand Health Survey is conducted annually to measure key health indicators for adults and children. The ministry presents data from all years on a rolling three-year average.
The sample size for the Gisborne region was 566 adults (age 15+) and 198 children (aged up to 14).
Now a young adult, Hannah described her experience with accessing mental health support in Tairāwhiti as “invalidating”.
The advice offered was “surface-level” and did not address the root of her problem, she said.
It was suggested she conduct “exposure therapy” for her social anxiety by going into a McDonald’s on the weekend. She didn’t feel taken seriously.
“It was the least of my worries – things like going and ordering food … when I was actively avoiding school.
“It was just focused on random things that I don’t think were really what I was after.”
During the visit, it was also suggested that Hannah go on medication.
“… talking about medications and things like that? You haven’t even clocked my issue really yet. Like I’m not aligning with this.”
Hannah didn’t take the next step towards further treatment.
“You go there to get the sheet of paper and medication, and there’s no further support from that.”
Statistics ‘sadly’ not surprising for advocate
Tim Marshall is the kaihautu (co-ordinator) of Tauawhi Men’s Centre, which provides counselling and advocacy for men in Tairāwhiti.
The statistics “sadly, [don’t] surprise me at all”.
Tim Marshall, kaihautu (co-ordinator) of Tauawhi Men’s Centre, “sadly” wasn’t surprised by statistics showing a high rate of psychological distress for Gisborne youth. Photo / Zoe Mills
While a variety of factors contributed to Gisborne’s statistics, a common theme was physical and social isolation, he said.
Gisborne has a high rate of employment within farming, forestry and agriculture, all industries with high levels of physical isolation and solitary work.
Tairāwhiti’s geographic isolation also impacted residents’ ability to access mental health support services, leading to increased reliance on whānau and immediate community support.
Spending a lot of time online created its own type of isolation, Marshall said.
Young people were more likely to turn to harmful rhetoric in online spaces if they felt disconnected from their in-person community.
“I think that’s part of the puzzle … the big thing around it is connection. How can we keep all our kids connected? How can we get them to feel and understand that they have a voice?”
Last year, the NZ Herald covered reports by the Sir Peter Gluckman-led thinktank Koi Tū: Centre for Informed Futures, which found social media was “an amplifier on both negative and positive influences playing a role in mental health”.
Hannah said she was able to use online platforms to connect with others when she had trouble connecting with others in-person.
“When you can’t find it in your community, you can branch out.”
Marshall said another significant factor in mental health outcomes was the flow-on effects from extreme weather events, which could cause mental health distress for coastal communities.
“People now get anxiety when it starts to rain heavily,” Marshall said.
“Our Prime Minister turns up with some KFC, but then they’re largely forgotten after that.”
Mental health resourcing in Tairāwhiti
Marshall said Tairāwhiti was “not proportionally” well-resourced with mental health support compared to the rest of the country.
Support services being the “right fit” for individuals was important for effective support.
“One of the most important things for people when they’re coming asking for help is to feel that they’re being heard.
“With the men seeking help, for a lot of them, it’s taken a lot of effort to even just walk in our door. So if we can’t provide an environment where they feel like at least they’ve got off the start mark … even if it’s just to share their story … we probably won’t see them again.”
In his experience with the centre’s support group, informal conversation had had positive impacts on mental health, particularly for men, as there was a stigma about reaching out for direct mental health support.
“[There is] probably more that we could do in the youth space, creating youth-friendly spaces, (and) tapping into youth voice in terms of leading community decisions that affect them.
“I think that’s where the power is … how can we build those conversations with young men and young women around what’s happening for them?”
Where to from here?
Marshall said there was a need for more spaces that supported prevention over mental health crisis intervention alone, to allow people to find support in a “more natural way”.
As part of a $61.6m Government investment into mental health crisis response services nationwide last year, a $1m tender was awarded to open a crisis recovery cafe in Tairāwhiti.
Such cafes are peer-run support services which offer a more relaxed and approachable alternative to mental health support. The first of these opened in Whanganui last year.
Crisis recovery cafes are peer-led, allowing a more relaxed approach to mental health care.
Nicola Ehau, Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) regional planning funding and outcomes director for Te Manawa Takai Region, earlier told the Gisborne Herald that “complex social factors” influenced mental distress in the region.
“Tairāwhiti has a high population of young Māori, who are sadly over-represented in mental health distress statistics. It is encouraging that more young people are speaking up and seeking support.
“Our focus is on strengthening early intervention and community-based, kaupapa Māori services, so rangatahi can access help sooner and in ways that work for them.”
Hannah said the cafe sounded like a “really good idea”, but people with anxiety might find it challenging to enter a space specifically designated for mental health support.
She thought “having more community spaces that were catered towards different sorts of things (beyond solely for mental health support)” would be beneficial for young people’s wellbeing.
Marshall said focusing on more community-led support projects for rangatahi would be impactful.
“I think real power is in genuine community action and really tapping into that.
“Empowering entrepreneurship, creativity, tapping into the kind of real creativity and potential we have in our community … we’ve got all this, like negative statistics and stuff [but] we’ve also got excellence across a whole lot of different things.”
*The Gisborne Herald agreed to use only Hannah’s first name to protect her privacy.