Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
The Mental Health Minister says it's up to Health New Zealand to decide whether a depression recovery centre should get funding, as the centre warns it may be shutting its doors by Christmas.
Whakamātūtū, the Depression Recovery Centre, opened in central Wellington in 2024.
Whakamātūtū board chair Dame Diana Crossan said the centre is on the brink of closure after ACC stopped funding clients to use its services. She said the centre has also not been able to get funding from Health NZ.
When asked whether the centre should remain open, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said funding decisions about providers were up to Health NZ.
"I go out and meet a range of mental health, addiction and crisis response services - some of them have funding from Health New Zealand, some don't.
"There's a range of services out there that have philanthropic funding, private funding, it's up to them."
Doocey said people in the capital needed faster access to mental health services, and he's made that a clear expectation of Health NZ - including targets of a one week response time for primary mental health and addiction support, and three weeks for specialist support.
"As to what providers they fund, that is for Health New Zealand."
Dame Diana told Morning Report yesterday the centre operated a six-week programme for people with depression, anxiety and other mental health distressors, which was funded from ACC referrals.
She said ACC had told the centre there were lower than expected referral numbers, and in the past nine months, ACC had not referred any clients to them.
Dame Diana said the centre had developed a programme for people in mental health crisis who show up at emergency departments needing help, and had talked with Health NZ about that, but had not received funding.
"We developed a programme, thinking that's what they wanted, because we've all heard that EDs are overloaded, clogged, we've talked with the staff on the ground, we've talked with all the mental health staff on the ground, and they all want the organisation to keep going and to be funded.
"We can't wait, we need to be able to pay staff, we need to be able to operate."
Doocey said he would encourage Whakamātūtū to keep talking with Health NZ about what funding options might be available to them.
When asked about why Gumboot Friday received government funding as a political decision and other mental health providers are being referred to Health NZ, Doocey said: "Gumboot Friday was a coalition agreement that we delivered".
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was an "operational decision" as to whether the centre should continue to get funding.
"What we expect them to do is deliver results, where programmes aren't working, we move funding away and we should put it into those that are working.
"Having said all of that, I expect the Minister for Mental Health to do a good engagement on mental health here, that that is a good decision, but it's ultimately an operational decision."
ACC's Deputy Chief Executive System Commissioning and Performance, Thomas Ronan, said ACC entered a 2-year contract with Whakamātūtū in 2023 to pilot a short, holistic programme for people with mental injury.
Ronan said ACC had turned down a request from the centre to extend the pilot.
"This decision was based on lower than expected referral numbers and because the pilot's original aims - reducing re-engagements and supporting clients to return to independence - were not fully achieved as intended."
Ronan said ACC is working with Whakamātūtū, and providing additional support to enable the service to continue to run as scheduled until 28 January 2026.
"We continue to support clients who access Whakamātūtū to complete the programme. We will support clients to transition or access other funded treatment and rehabilitation support and are confident existing ACC services will be able to meet their needs."
Lisa Gestro, acting director mentally Health New Zealand, said it was important that all government funding was allocated in a fair and transparent manner.
"We recognise and value the work of Whakamātūtū and encourage them if they have not already to register with the Government Electronic Tendering (GETS) website operated by MBIE to receive notification of potential future tenders that the Trust may wish to apply for."
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