The Mental Health and Addiction System And Service Framework 2022-2032.

The Draft System and Services Framework intended to set out at a high level “clear expectations for:

• what mental health and addiction services will be available to individuals and whānau;

• how services should be organised locally, regionally and nationally;

• the principles that should inform system and service design and service delivery; and

• the critical shifts required to get there within a 10-year horizon.”
  

In reading the draft framework and in speaking with people with Lived Experience of mental distress and/or addiction in Aotearoa, Changing Minds submission outlines three key concerns:

• the need to partner with people with Lived Experience,

• the need to take definitions and concepts within the framework from concepts to actions, and

• the need for clarity on the goals and practical application of the framework.

We have heard and felt a sense of frustration, disappointment, and fatigue that the System and Services Framework draft, like other consultation projects before it, speaks of the need for transformative action, without setting out the basic accountabilities, definitions, and goals to truly embed person-centred transformative change with Lived Experience values, philosophy, and practices.

Consultation on this draft was open between May and June 2022.