Figures supplied to the National Party’s Mental Health spokesperson, Matt Doocey by the Health Minister, Andrew Little show vacancies for full-time psychologists have sky-rocketed by 140 percent in the last five years. 

Additionally, both psychiatrist and mental health nurse vacancies have both jumped by more than 50 percent. 

NZ Psychological Society President, Tania Anstiss is not surprised, but says the data is still shocking and horrific. 

She says it’s not good at all for services, for clients, and for the public who need mental health support. 

Doocey slammed the increases, and said they’re hugely concerning for the state of our mental health workforce. 

He says Little desperately needs to step up, and provide leadership on sector’s woes. 

“We need a clear plan for the mental health workforce crisis, one that’ll retain our current workforce”. 

But the Health Minister is defending the increases, and said they aren’t fully reflective of the work undertaken in the sector. 

Andrew Little said while there is no question there is shortages in the sector, the Government has added over 500 staff to our hospital mental health workforce. 

“One of the reason vacancies has gone up is because we fund more positions there now”. 

• Alcohol seen as major factor in mental health crisis
• Sir John Kirwan's new initiative aims to teach kids the basics of mental health
• Starship launches youth mental health app amid spike in youth self-harm

He says they’ve funded 230 nurses to undertake mental health work training each year, and added more money in this year’s budget for acute specialists like psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. 

“So, while we have shortages at the moment -- we also have a plan to address them”. 

Doocey said many in the workforce are becoming burnt out having to cover vacancies, and that we need to “ensure skilled migrant workers are placed on the green-list, and upskill our local workforce”. 

It’s something echoed by one of the country’s leading psychologists, MindWorks’ Sara Chatwin. 

She said with many burnt out from Covid and needing to take time off to reset, we have to look overseas to fill gaps. 

“We do have people in this industry available and who are wanting to come into this country, but can't work or get the visas to join and help those who need it in this area.” 

Anstiss agreed that burn out is plaguing the sector, and many working in the area feel it is impossible to meet the level of demand. 

“It’s a no-win situation where people are trained in mental health because they want to help, but they feel unable to do so because with the level of demand and lack of people”. 

She said ‘crisis’ is the only way to describe the current situation. 

Anstiss said there’s multiple contributing factors to the numbers, both good and bad – including a decrease in stigma surrounding mental health, meaning more people feel comfortable asking for help. 

She says while the level of demand for support has continually risen, the pandemic escalated mental health challenges in the community to a new level. 

“[Covid] increased the amount of inequity around financial, social, and economic well-being -- and I think all those things have made not just the level of demand, but level of complexity increase”. 

It’s something echoed by Chatwin. 

She said it’s clear people's needs are not being met, and also questioned whether the Government’s $1.9 billion-dollar mental health investment has gone to the right areas. 

“I just don’t know where it’s gone, has it gone to the frontline? Has it gone to the professionals that need it? Or has it gone into committees and reports, and has it been funneled in directions that perhaps at the end of the day, don’t equate to people getting their needs met.” 

Doocey also questioned whether the Government’s 2019 funding has paid off. 

“You’ve got ask yourself, how can a government spend two-billion dollars on mental health, but things have got worse of the last five years.” 

Anstiss believes there is no singular simple solution to fixing the issues plaguing our mental health sector, but long-term comprehensive thinking is key. 

She says short-term solutions to address demand could centre around an increase in interagency work, and becoming more effective in how the health sector can work together across differing services. 

“Also, the use of online support, which has increased hugely through Covid”. 

Anstiss believes the Government is doing positive work with some of the longer-term solutions including "getting creative in how it's increasing trainee psychologists, which is a really positive step.” 

Little said there is specific working being done to bolster our clinical psychologist numbers, including lifting the number of funded training positions by more than treble.