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Budget 2022: $90m for mental health support in schools

<h2>Providing better mental wellbeing services and support in schools is the aim of a &dollar;90m Budget 2022 boost&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>In a pre-Budget 2022 announcement on Tuesday morning&comma; Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti joined Health Minister Andrew Little to unveil the plans to expand Mana Ake services across five regions&period; They outlined how 195&comma;000 primary and intermediate aged children are set to benefit from the expansion of services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In Budget 2022 Labour will deliver on its manifesto commitment to expand Mana Ake&comma; with &dollar;90-million set aside to start services in Northland&comma; Counties Manukau&comma; Bay of Plenty&comma; Lakes and West Coast regions&comma; as well as continue existing services in Canterbury and Kaik&omacr;ura&comma;” Little said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Mana Ake is a school-based programme that gives children the skills and support to deal with issues that include grief&comma; loss&comma; parental separation&comma; and bullying&period; It also provides advice&comma; guidance and workshops for parents&comma; wh&amacr;nau and teachers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We know that early intervention is one of the best ways we encourage better mental wellbeing for young New Zealanders and through their lives&period; Mana Ake empowers children with resilience and support&comma; when and where they need it&comma; to confidently cope with whatever life throws at them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Supporting resilience in our kids today is part of growing the confident adults of tomorrow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Expanding Mana Ake is one way we will help strengthen New Zealand’s economic security for generations to come&comma;” said Little&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Following the Christchurch and Kaik&omacr;ura earthquakes&comma; the feedback from parents and the education sector was that this programme made a real difference in the lives of many young people&comma;” Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;18815" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-18815" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-18815" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;03&sol;Jan-Tinetti-labour&period;org&lowbar;&period;nz-780-x-780-300x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"300" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-18815" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Jan Tinetti<br &sol;>&NewLine;Image&colon; labour&period;org&period;nz<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;One of the real strengths of Mana Ake is it’s co-designed by the local community it’s tailored to&period; That means important considerations such as cultural competencies are observed&comma; and children get support in a way that is meaningful to them&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Youth mental health is part of the Cooperation Agreement between Labour and the Greens&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Everybody should have access to mental health support when they need it&period; The expansion of Mana Ake is an important and necessary step to ensuring fewer young people not only no longer fall through the gaps&comma; but develop understanding of their own and other’s mental health&comma;” Green Party mental health spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Local co-design for each of the new Mana Ake areas is well underway&comma; and we expect to see the first areas commence service delivery later this year&comma;” Little added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Heather Barker Vermeer

Heather has worked as a journalist, writer and editor in England and Aotearoa New Zealand for over 20 years. She fell in love with words when she received a 'Speak & Spell' tech toy for Christmas in 1984.

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