\u201cWe\u2019re transforming the way emergency services respond to people in mental distress by ensuring more New Zealanders receive a mental health response, rather than a criminal justice response when they call 111.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand director of specialist mental health and addictions Karla Bergquist said having clinicians on the frontline allows people to be assessed earlier and connected with the right support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may involve connecting them with community mental health services, arranging follow-up support, or providing more immediate crisis support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Lakes rollout is part of a wider expansion targeting regions with high demand and identified community need, including rural areas where access to services can be limited.<\/p>\n
Police Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny said officers regularly attend mental health-related callouts that are not criminal in nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking alongside mental health clinicians strengthens our response by bringing together clinical expertise and Police\u2019s public safety role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penny said the joint approach will help improve safety outcomes and ensure people are matched with appropriate care sooner.<\/p>\n
Evidence from existing co-response teams shows the model reduces the need to detain people under the Mental Health Act and lowers the number taken to emergency departments or police stations.<\/p>\n
The latest announcement follows earlier confirmation of new teams in Auckland, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury.<\/p>\n
Once fully implemented, the number of co-response teams nationwide will increase from five to 15.<\/p>\n
Budget 2025 includes $28 million to support the expansion, including $10m specifically earmarked to establish new teams and boost crisis helpline capacity.<\/p>\n
Planning is now underway to determine how the Lakes team will operate locally, with authorities expected to tailor the model to the region\u2019s mix of urban and rural communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re transforming the way emergency services respond to people in mental distress by ensuring more New Zealanders receive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4886,536,251174,537,7557,134,15221,5365,1885,554,555,117,111,139,69,7187,61],"class_list":["post-503438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-aims","tag-care","tag-coresponse","tag-crisis","tag-district","tag-health","tag-improve","tag-lakes","tag-mental","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-team","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}