Summer 2021 Newsletter

Suicide Watch
"Listen. To. Us."
This is the main message from the voices of young people from a number of recent studies.
Youth19 Rangatahi Smart Survey funded by the Health Research council of New Zealand, collected
data from around 7,900 year 9-13s about their lives and the impacts on their health and well-being.
Finding that most students are happy with their lives is reassuring, however increasing numbers of
students are reporting high levels of distress and symptoms of clinical depression. This rose from
13% in 2012 to 23% in 2019 and was particularly high among females and higher in lower decile
schools.
Compared with previous Youth2000 surveys there is a marked decrease in well-being since 2012
(76% to 69%) and growing mental health inequities between Māori, Pasifika and other ethnic
groups, and higher suicide rates among lower income groups.