6. Question No. 6—HealthDr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 6—Health6. Dr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister of Health: What is the Government doing to improve the mental health and wellbeing of New Zealanders?Hon PEENI HENARE (Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health)) on behalf of the Minister of Health: This Government has made it a priority to improve the mental health and wellbeing of New Zealanders like the many college students in the gallery today. We are building primary care mental health services from the ground up. By the end of May these services provide coverage of an enrolled population of 3 million New Zealanders and have delivered over 944000 sessions. We've also launched wellbeingsupport.health.nz to connect people with these free primary mental health and addiction services. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How is the Government growing the mental health workforce?Hon PEENI HENARE: There has been an increase of 713 psychologists and a tripling of clinical psychology internships since 2017. We have also grown the number of fully funded new entry to specialist practice places for nurses from 160 in 2019 to 282 available this year. Te Whatu Ora has also invested to deliver 80 new addiction workforce and gambling harm scholarships over the next two years. The scholarships enable students to undertake tertiary study to help them enter the addiction workforce. This programme aligns with our strategy to prevent and minimise gambling harm by investing in developing a skilled enabled culturally safe and responsive workforce. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How has the Government supported the mental wellbeing of people effected by recent severe weather events? Hon PEENI HENARE: A multimedia campaign All Sorts" delivered by the Mental Health Foundation was quickly stood up to proactively promote and distribute information about available mental wellbeing support and resources to cyclone-affected regions. I am advised Te Whatu Ora contacted mental health service providers in cyclone-impacted areas to see if they were affected and whether they had capacity to cope with a potentially increasing workload. As a result in Hawke's Bay additional mental health professionals from other parts of the country were deployed to provide on-the-ground support to communities in the immediate period after the cyclone. This included health improvement practitioners working in general practices in other parts of the country. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: What did the Budget 2023 North Island weather events package deliver for mental health initiatives?Hon PEENI HENARE: This Government has extended the peer support Warmline component of 1737. This is particularly beneficial for people living in rural areas who may otherwise need to travel for face-to-face support. Additional funding has been made available to Youthline. Funding has been allocated to Te Tairāwhiti Hawke's Bay Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau for local community mental wellbeing recovery initiatives. Funding has been made available to develop specific rain anxiety content in the Mental Health 101 Addiction 101 and Rural Mental Health 101 training programmes. This training will be made available to those working with impacted people and whānau across these regions. This will then be promoted heavily in the most impacted of areas. Mana Ake the primary and intermediate school-based mental wellbeing programme will be rolled out to all Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti primary and intermediate schools to support children from the beginning of 2024."