Frontline Mental Health Workforce Growth Is Reducing Vacancy Rates Across New Zealand

For years, the mental health system has carried a familiar frustration: people reaching out for help, only to be told to wait. Too few staff, too many vacancies and frontline teams stretched to their limits. That context matters when new workforce data shows a different picture beginning to emerge.

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says the focus on growing the frontline mental health and addiction workforce is starting to pay off and the numbers back that up. Since the current Government took office, Health New Zealand’s frontline workforce has grown by more than 11% in full-time equivalent roles.

That growth has translated into something the sector has long been calling for: fewer empty positions. Social worker vacancies have dropped from over 10%to just above 5%. Mental health nurse vacancies have been cut in half, falling from nearly 15 per cent in 2023 to just over 7%. Drug and alcohol counsellor vacancies have also seen a sharp decline, from more than 14% to 5.5%.

Behind those percentages are real people joining the system more than 400 full-time mental health nurses and nearly 90 social workers now working within Health New Zealand. For those seeking support, that can mean shorter waits, more consistent care and fewer handovers between exhausted teams.

The changes are not limited to today’s workforce. Training pipelines are also expanding. Funding for clinical psychology interns exceeded the original 2025 target, with 74 interns supported instead of the planned 60. Psychiatry training reached a record high, with 48 junior doctors entering Stage 1 last year, up from 33 in 2023. It is a sign that attention is being paid not just to immediate gaps, but to the future supply of specialists.

Perhaps the clearest signal of impact is access. More than 83 per cent of people are now able to access primary mental health support within one week, while over 82% are accessing specialist services within three weeks. For someone taking the difficult step of asking for help, that time difference can matter enormously.

The Auditor-General previously called for a dedicated mental health workforce plan as vacancy rates and wait times climbed under the previous Government. Delivering that plan was prioritised early and this data is now being held up as evidence that the direction is working though many will rightly argue that sustained effort will be key.

For now, the story is one of momentum. Growing the frontline mental health workforce is not just a policy outcome, it is changing how quickly people are seen, heard and supported. And in mental health care, that can be the difference between struggling alone and finding help when it is needed most.