Photo: Public Health Summer School – Otago University
Youthline says it is undertaking an average of three emergency interventions a day, up from one a week five years ago.
On Thursday, the helpline released a new report that found young people are facing a perfect storm of mental health distress, rising living costs and digital pressures.
The State of the Generation report interviewed 1041 young people from across Aotearoa aged 12-24.
Chief executive Shae Ronald told Nine to Noon it ensured diversity was represented in the survey – wanting to “deep dive” into under-served communities.
Ronald said Youthline wanted to find out the challenges diverse groups – such as the rainbow community and neurodiverse communities – were facing and how they could be supported.
The report’s findings were in line with what the helpline was hearing from callers, she said.
While mental health remained the top concern for nearly 60 percent of respondents, many felt the system was failing them due to long wait times, high costs, and a significant lack of awareness regarding available support services.
Youthline chief executive Shae Ronald.
Photo: Supplied
A concerning factor, Ronald said, was that 40 percent of respondents didn’t know that mental health services were available to them at any time of day.
A public campaign may be needed to ensure youth know they didn’t have to go through hard times alone, she said.
Financial anxiety was a major driver of stress, with nearly half of younger teens worried about their parents’ finances and older youth struggling with a difficult job market and cost of living pressure.
Ronald said Youthline was seeing increasingly complex cases, with emergency interventions jumping from one a week to more than 20 in just five years.
Callers were also getting younger – with 10 percent of all calls now coming from children under the age of 12, she said.
Improving the situation for young people in New Zealand had to be done with their input, Ronald said.
When it came to young people using social media, Ronald said a “nuanced approach” was needed and platforms needed to ensure being online was safe for them.
This included enabling safety features and removing harmful content proactively.
Any approach in improving social media for young people needed their input to ensure solutions were meaningful.
This went for any approach to improving the “youth mental health crisis”, Ronald said.
Systems needed to be co-designed with youth, early intervention was needed, and programmes should be developed for schools.
Ronald didn’t believe that there was no money to fix the issues in the system.
“We will pay as a society if we take that approach.”
She said she had hope that Aotearoa would pay attention to what young people were saying and work together to strengthen and develop a system that works better for them.
Where to get help:
- Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
- Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
- Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
- Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
- Samaritans: 0800 726 666
- Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
- What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
- Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
- Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
- Healthline: 0800 611 116
- Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
- OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
- Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
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