NZ’s Mental Health Strategy Puts Lived Experience in Focus

A Ten-Year Strategy For Mental Health And Wellbeing

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has recently consulted on the draft Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2036, which will set the direction for how the health system improves mental health and wellbeing outcomes over the next decade. The consultation ran from 8 April to 18 May 2026.

The strategy covers mental health and addiction support, suicide prevention, and reducing harms from substance use and gambling. For health engagement professionals, it is a timely example of how long-term health strategy needs to be shaped by the people and communities closest to the issue.

Lived Experience, Whānau And Community Insight Matter

The Ministry’s consultation material recognises that people with lived and living experience, families, whānau, communities, professionals and organisations all hold valuable knowledge about what is working, what is missing and what should be prioritised.

That matters because mental health strategy cannot be built from service data alone.

People’s experiences of support, access, stigma, crisis response, addiction services, gambling harm and community wellbeing all shape whether policy settings work in practice. For engagement teams, the challenge is to create safe, accessible and meaningful ways for people to contribute — especially when the subject matter may be personal, distressing or connected to past harm.

Engagement Needs To Be Safe And Practical

Te Hiringa Mahara, New Zealand’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, described public input as critical, noting the strategy will set the direction for mental health and wellbeing across Aotearoa for more than a decade.

For practitioners, this is the key lesson: when engagement is about mental health, the process matters as much as the questions.

Good engagement needs plain language, accessible formats, flexible ways to contribute, clear privacy and consent settings, and careful thought about how people are supported before, during and after participation.

It also needs to show how feedback will be used. When people share lived experience, they should not be left wondering whether their contribution disappeared into a consultation report.

A Stronger System Needs Partnership

New Zealand already has strong expectations for consumer and whānau engagement in health. Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission’s Code of Expectations for Health Entities’ Engagement with Consumers and Whānau sets expectations for how health entities work with consumers, whānau and communities in planning, design, delivery and evaluation of health services.

Its Partnership in Care resource also supports primary and community health care providers to strengthen consumer, whānau and community engagement in line with the Code.

For health engagement professionals across Australia and New Zealand, the message is clear: lived experience engagement is not a side activity. It is part of how better health systems are designed, delivered and improved.

Vital Engagement Takeaway

New Zealand’s draft Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is a useful reminder that people closest to the issue need to be close to the decisions.

For health engagement professionals, the opportunity is to design participation that is safe, accessible and connected to action — especially when the issues are complex, personal and deeply connected to trust.