Prevention: The missing piece in the Aotearoa mental health response

Wise Group specialist clinical and translational lead, Denise Kingi-‘Ulu’ave, reflects on the recent Prevention in Practice Summit and the urgent need for prevention action in the mental health and addiction sector.

Both in Australia and in Aotearoa, while investment in mental health services has grown, more people are struggling with their mental health than ever before, with mounting social and economic costs.

The reality is stark – there will never be enough treatment services alone to meet demand. Unless resources shift beyond the treatment system, demand will remain unmanageable and people will continue to miss out on support until they reach crisis.

“We cannot sit back and watch the rising impacts of mental health concerns across our communities, without seeing action on prevention as urgent.” – Dr Jaelea Skehan OAM

A few weeks ago I attended the Prevention in Practice Summit held in Sydney. More than 150 participants and 20 national experts across Australia’s government, lived experience and expertise, community, research, industry, and the mental health sector came together to explore practical ways to address the gap between prevention knowledge and how to achieve urgent action across settings.

The evidence and enthusiasm were energising, with the Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities, Joe Ball, remarking that “prevention is the work of the hopeful and the progressives.”

A call for urgent action on prevention

In opening the summit, Dr Jaelea Skehan OAM, Director of Everymind, called on governments, the sector and the community to take urgent action on prevention. The evidence for prevention of mental health, addiction and suicide has existed for 15 years or more, but we have not seen the implementation of prevention knowledge across policy, across communities and across systems to have a real impact.

Dr Skehan stated, “Prevention is now urgent – we have had 15 years of less than optimal action on prevention.” This means that “three generations of children have not benefitted from the knowledge we have – so we should reflect on that and think about what an inexcusable missed opportunity that represents.”

How many more generations will need to suffer before we take urgent action? Let’s prioritise investment in mental health and addiction prevention in Aotearoa.