Mental Health Resources, Associations and Authorities

Mental Health Resources

Please see the information below if you or someone you know is in crisis, have a mental health concern, didn’t find anyone in our listings to provide services to you, have questions about a mental health practitioner’s professional status, or need to know how to register a complaint about services received.

Mental Health Foundation Crisis Page

If you or someone are in Crisis or need help then this Mental Health Foundation site will provide you with useful contact numbers.

Mental Health Foundation Suicide Prevention Information

The Mental Health Foundation Suicide Prevention Information page provides information on safe and effective suicide prevention activities and has links to information on:

• What to do if you are worried about someone
• What to do if you are having suicidal thoughts
• After a suicide attempt
• Self harm

Mental Health Foundation Resource & Information Service

The Mental Health Foundation has a free library and information service - available to anyone living in New Zealand. They also have an online shop, where you can access brochures, posters and other resources.

Ministry of Health’s primary mental health and addiction website

This site has resources for those working in primary mental health, academics and consumers. It includes information about how to access primary mental health services (such as free counselling sessions).

Support groups

The Mental Health Foundation has compiled a list of support groups across the counry. In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks.

Mental Health Professional Associations and Regulated Mental Health Professions

Not all mental health practitioners are registered or members of a professional association. Those who are will have met the standards set by the registration body, the professional association, or both.  In general you can expect services by practitioners who have met these standards to be of a higher standard than those who have not.

Professional Associations

A list of professional associations for the various types of mental health services can be found below.

New Zealand Association of Counsellors

NZAC, the New Zealand Association of Counsellors / Te Roopu Kaiwhiriwhi o Aotearoa is the national professional association hat acts for and with counsellors to monitor and improve the service they provide. You can use the search function on their website to find out if a counsellor is a member or to find a counselor in your area. If you have a concern about the practice of a counsellor who is a member you can consult NZAC’s Complaints Process and make contact with the Ethics Secretary.

New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP)

NZCCP aims to provide a process by which trained and competent clinical psychologists can be identified and distinguished from others offering mental health services. Their site is useful if you are trying to find a clinical psychologist.

New Zealand Psychological Society

The New Zealand Psychological Society is the professional society that aims to improve individual and community wellbeing by representing, promoting and advancing the scientific discipline of psychology and psychology practice. Psychologists who have paid a subscription to have details of the services they offer placed in database can be found by the Find a Psychologist link on their site.

New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists/Te Rōpū Whakaora Hinengaro

The New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists is a professional organisation which sets, examines and maintains specific standards for the safe and ethical practice of psychotherapy in Aotearoa New Zealand. You can search their Register to find a psychotherapist in your area.

World Professional Association for Transgender Health

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity disorders. They promote the highest standards of health care for individuals through the articulation of Standards of Care (SOC) for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People.

Professions regulated under the HPCA Act 2003

Every health practitioner who practises in a regulated profession in New Zealand must be registered with the relevant responsible authority and hold an Annual Practising Certificate (APC) issued by that authority. Additionally, the Act specifically bars any individual from claiming to be a practitioner of a regulated profession, or in any way imply that they practise or are willing to practise a regulated profession, unless they are appropriately qualified, registered with the relevant authority, and hold an APC.

The only regulated mental health professions in New Zealand are listed below. To find out more about responsible authorities see Responsible authorities under the Act.

New Zealand Psychologist Board

The New Zealand Psychologists Board is the regulatory authority appointed under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 in regard to the profession of psychology. The public information on the site provides information about what psychologists do, registration details about psychologists, and how to raise a concern about a psychologist.

Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa New Zealand

The Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa New Zealand registers all psychotherapists who wish to practise their profession in New Zealand. Registration means that a psychotherapist has an approved qualification, has met the competence standards specified and is recognised by the Board as fit to practise. It includes the Public Register of Psychotherapists and how to make a complaint about a psychotherapist.

Health and Disability Commissioner

See this site to find out more about your rights when receiving a health or disability service, what you can do if you are worried or unhappy about a health service, or something goes wrong, and if you feel those rights have been breached.

Working Therapeutically With LGBTI Clients

A practice wisdom resource from the Australian National LGBTI Health Alliance, a coalition of organisations from across Australia that work to improve the health and welbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other sexuality, sex and gender diverse people (LGBTI).