If nothing is done now, more vulnerable teenagers could end up on signs, and adding to New Zealand's horrendous statistics of teenage suicide, an organiser of a teenage suicide protest march said today.
Thousands of people turned out to march in support of teen suicide awareness this morning. The group marched up to Parliament in protest for better funding from the Government.
March organiser Pania Te-Paiho Marsh told 1 NEWS the issue was "getting ridiculous" and young people were becoming merely statistics.
She wanted the march to bring back the humanity, with family and whānau turning out in droves to share the names, photos and stories of their loved ones who had died by suicide.
"Everybody [at the event] has lost somebody, that's why we're here ... to let them know that we give a s***," Ms Te-Paiho Marsh said.
She said she is sick of vulnerable people having nowhere to go and suffering through long waiting lists to get help.
"Six months could mean the difference between them getting help or them ending up on one of these signs," she said.
"If we don't understand that we need to fund this now, how much kids do we have to lose? ... Every whānau here has lost a kid, that's ridiculous."
Ms Te-Paiho Marsh is asking the Government to "rethink it, shake it up" when it comes to turning around the statistics. "The system's broken, the system doesn't work," she said.
"If you can find $23 million to fund a flag and we've still got the same flag, but all these people have lost kids, that's the bloody problem ... it's just not good enough."
Botany MP Jamie-Lee Ross was at the event to show his support and said more needed to be done to help young Kiwis.
"Hundreds of young people every year are killing themselves and that's just not good enough.
"As someone who has shared experience with these people, I wanted to come and support them because I think standing up and letting the Government know that we need more support, we need more funding - it's essential."
The march to parliament was a good way to raise awareness for the issue and protest to the Government, he said.
"Young people in New Zealand are killing themselves at an alarming rate. We need support, we need more counselling, we need more resources for them."
Mr Ross said that he wished he knew what he knows now when he was in Government so he could bring more awareness to the topic - but said he is using his voice now to show his support.
"I think we're all looking forward to seeing what the Government's going to come up with in their budget. They need to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into this because young people are killing themselves at an alarming rate and that's not good enough.
"I think the whole parliament should unite on this particular issue, this isn't an issue to play politics on."
One protester said she felt like the Government has been using a band-aid approach to the issue, and waned to see support at the beginning of the chain.
A group of teenage girls told 1 NEWS they had lost a friend in the past year to suicide, as well as knew others who want to or have tried to.
They wanted the Government to take action on the issue and would like to see better counselling services in schools.
Piki launched in Porirua in February and was today announced it is now also available in the Capital and Coast DHB area, and tertiary institutions throughout the Wellington, Hutt and Wairarapa areas.
Piki supports 18 to 25 year olds with mild to moderate mental health needs.
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