Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey opens up on his own struggles

Matt Doocey has opened up on his own personal struggles as he sets up office as New Zealand's first Mental Health Minister.

Speaking on Q+A, the Canterbury MP said he was a teenager involved in a car accident where he was thrown out of the back windscreen as the vehicle flipped end over end.

“I actually ended up receiving head injuries, I was in hospital for a number of weeks.”

After his discharge, Doocey said he had several follow-up appointments – all for broken bones but none regarding the effects of his head injury.

Anxiety, depression, and struggles with concentration, anger, frustration, and isolation followed,

"So as a young bloke, I sort of refused to do that for a while. But it got to a point where I needed to get some help."

He describes the decision to seek support as a “lightbulb moment” that led him to train in counselling.

“Not only did I get the support that helps me today form a better relationship with my mental health, I thought to myself, ‘I want to do what that person does'."

From training in counselling psychology, Doocey went to work, eventually in the UK. "I was lucky enough to work for the NHS, primarily in the East End."

Doocey said: “Mental health has always been a poor second cousin to physical health. I looked around the world at some of the examples other jurisdictions had done. They'd created mental health ministries. I didn’t think we needed that, to silo mental health more. But there’s a role that Australia introduced a few years ago that I think has been quite successful.

"A standalone Mental Health Minister that not only works in health but goes into other government departments. What are we doing about mental health in education? In corrections? In social development? In housing? And so on."

Doocey conceded there was nothing in the coalition Government’s 100-day plan for mental health, but there was also nothing for any of his portfolios, which included tourism and youth issues.

He said establishing the role of minister sent a "very clear signal that [mental health] is a priority". Doocey said he had been examining the system, setting up the role and “taking a look under the hood” over his first 100 days.

The Mental Health Minister said covering mental injuries in ACC was an "option we can explore", but refused to elaborate in specific detail about the option. Doocey is also the ACC Minister.

Currently, "mental injury" was covered by the agency only under a limited range of circumstances.

The previous government faced criticism when survivors of the Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks were denied ACC cover for the impacts on their mental health.

Asked about the possibility of widening access, Doocey said: "Well, I think that's an option we can explore... I'm seeking advice on that."

"There is the issue around that, but I just want to be very clear about my point is — everyone who has some mental distress, doesn't need to see a psychologist and a psychiatrist. There is a range of workforce out there. And what also gets left out is our lived experience peer support workforce as well," he added.

The minister said he was "keen to explore" extending cover to mental injuries resulting from traumatic events, but emphasised he was "new in the role" with the ACC portfolio.

Doocey was also questioned about plans to reduce frontline police responses to mental health callouts, and the procurement process around Mike King's I Am Hope charity.

Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand on Air

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February 15, 2024