After waiting for months to meet the Ministry of Health, the Gumboot Friday charity has been told it doesn't qualify for funding from the $1.9 billion allocated to mental health.
Ambassador for the charity, Mike King, told 1 NEWS the ministry said via an email yesterday that it's "not in a position" to fund Gumboot Friday.
In an Instagram post, King called it a "sad day for all New Zealanders".
The charity started in 2019 and offers free counselling to young people in New Zealand. So far it's invested $2 million into the service which has a database of over 3,000 counsellors.
King said the ministry gave him the impression it didn't think the charity's counsellors "met the standards".
But, he says, all of them belong to an association and are police vetted.
"All counsellor/therapist profiles published on Gumboot Friday must hold registrations with NZAC, NZPB, PBANZ, SWRB, or NZCCA. All of those bodies have police vetting as part of their registration processes," King says he told the ministry.
"All counsellors visible to the public on Gumboot Friday hold one of those registrations and are police vetted as set out on the public websites for each of those registration bodies."
He says the charity's technology is "safe, world-class and proven".
King also bumped into Jacinda Ardern in the Koru Lounge at Auckland Airport today. Taking the opportunity to talk to her, she told him she "could not get involved in funding decisions".
He said he and Ardern have a genuinely good relationship and he stressed to her his concerns were "not personal".
"Whenever I see her we always talk about our kids and gave each other a genuine hug," King says.
She genuinely inquired after my wellbeing, saying I “take on too much".
But he says he told her, if he doesn’t look after others, - “people die”.
King says he met with Health Minister Andrew Little in February who directed him to meet with the Health Ministry (MOH) after submitting a proposal. However that meeting didn't happen until last week.
In it's proposal, the charity explained it was a service with high demand and addressed a gap in MOH supported services. The effective access young Kiwis have to the charity was also highlighted - its service "now relied upon by thousands of young people and growing rapidly by the day".
But the group manager for primary and community wellbeing, for mental health and addictions, Jo Chiplin told the charity though the ministry "shared his passion and commitment for this work," funding could not be provided.
According to King, Chiplin also responded it was "part way through a five year programme to expand access and choice of primary mental health services, rolling out services for all ages".
In a statement to 1 NEWS the Ministry of Health’s Deputy Chief Executive Sector Support and Infrastructure, Robyn Shearer said the charity didn't apply for funding in time.
"The application from Gumboot Friday representatives was unfortunately sent outside the planned procurement processes. This means the Ministry of Health is unable to fund Gumboot Friday – or any other charity or service – at this time. Procurement rules are designed to make sure there is a transparent, fair and equitable process, and to make sure there can be robust evaluation of applications.
"In its email to Gumboot Friday representatives yesterday, the Ministry thanked them for their passion and commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of young people across New Zealand.
“We understand that there is a huge need for increased mental health and addiction supports across the country and while we have made progress over the last two years there is more work to be done. We share your passion and commitment for this work and are working hard to put in place the transformation that we all know is needed,” the email said.
The Ministry also encouraged Gumboot Friday representatives to be part of the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process for youth services which will be issued in the first quarter of the next financial year.
Representatives have been told the next funding round is likely to be targeted at services in the four DHB areas that did not receive funding in the first RFP process.
King disputes this and says the charity has been "trying to engage with the MOH for more than two years".
"David Clark and Andrew Little have insisted I meet with the ministry but all the ministry does is give us reasons not to meet," King says. "It's another red herring from the ministry of misinformation blaming us for not getting the procurement in on time".
King also told 1 NEWS recently the Health Ministry needs an overhaul, “because if it ain’t Covid, they can’t fix it”.
King explained that in order for anyone outside of Government organisations to apply for funds, people have to “jump through so many hoops, it becomes a complete waste of time and once they have put all their restrictions in, it’s impossible to deliver,” King says.
It comes on the back of Little's comments on June 22, saying the mental health system needs a review.
“Things seem to take a long time for people who are suffering. We're half way through the programme and I think it's appropriate to do a stocktake,” he said at the time. “It is frustrating because we inherited a system under crisis, we made a huge investment and two years into that investment programme we are still seeing some serious problems.
“I want to get on top of the problems,” Little said.
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