The deep end of the mental health crisis in New Zealand. Why has the pattern seen a reversal?

Written by Tom Varghese

Suicide has a long-lasting and far-reaching impact on the lives of many people in New Zealand. Every year, far too many New Zealanders die by suicide, with many more attempting suicide. This has a devastating impact on their whānau and families, friends, peers and colleagues.

New Zealand’s annual suicide rate did not exceed 10 suicides per 100,000 people until the 1890s. For the years ending 30 June 2009 to 2018, the rate of confirmed suicide deaths increased from 11.3 per 100,000 in 2009 to peak at 12.4 in 2018. The rate of suspected suicide deaths decreased from 12.6 in 2019 to 11.6 in 2021. There is a need to see a decline over at least a five-year period before a meaningful downward trend in suicide numbers and rates can be established.

The Ministry of Health identifies risk factors known to increase the likelihood of suicide and protective factors known to reduce the likelihood. These can occur at individual, relationship, community, and societal levels. Certain populations or people might have more risk factors than others, while many experience cumulative risk factors. Protective factors include good whānau and family relationships, access to secure housing, stable employment, community support and connectedness, and secure cultural identity.

Every Life Matters: the Suicide Prevention Strategy 2019–2029 and Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2019–2024 for Aotearoa provides an opportunity to reorganise, and focus efforts to reduce suicide. It outlines a clear vision. The key changes ahead include: establishing a Suicide Prevention Office (set up in 2019), working alongside Māori to enable and support effective Māori leadership of suicide prevention, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience of suicidal distress and working together, with collective ownership and responsibilities.

It is pertinent to note that New Zealand’s youth suicide rates are the highest in the OECD and have recently been deemed a ‘suicide crisis’ by the Prime Minister’s former Chief Science Advisor. New Zealand’s youth suicide rates are particularly high for young, indigenous Māori and Pacific Island people. The response to this, in the last several decades, has been an increasing commitment to a mental health approach to understanding and dealing with suicide and concerns to prevent the ‘normalisation’ of suicide as a way of coping with adverse circumstances.

Many of the risk and protective factors for suicide are linked to broader determinants of health and wellbeing. To successfully prevent suicide, we need to look outside the health system and think broadly about addressing the factors that may increase or decrease the range of risk factors for individuals and communities.