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19 - 20 October 2026 | James Cook, Wellington

Transforming mental health conference

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Transforming Mental Health: Innovation, Access & Accountability

Aotearoa’s mental health landscape is in need of transformative change. As demand on services grows, so too does the urgency to pause, reflect, and reimagine how we deliver care. This Conference arrives at a critical moment — bringing together policy-makers, counsel, practitioners, patient reps and thought leaders from across the sector to connect, share common challenges and spark innovation.

This is more than just a conference; it’s a space for honest dialogue and fresh thinking, all grounded in the lived experiences of those committed everyday to deliver the best mental care. Together, we’ll explore how to build a more inclusive, human and responsive system whilst shining a light on the overlooked and underserved.

Key themes not to be missed

Mental health and Policy

Stay current on system reforms and deep dive into the Mental Health Bill 2025.

Addiction & Youth challenges

Understand integrated mental health & addiction services. Addressing gambling and other addictions.

Insights on social, digital, cultural and economic challenges facing young people.

Addressing the underserved

Recognise mental health in vulnerable and marginalised populations.

Explore what is Equitable, Accessible & Culturally Safe Care.

Case studies of new models

The role of digital tools & innovation.

Shifting to a community-led approach – challenges, implications?

How are peer-led & lived-experience focuses improving outcomes?

KEY SPEAKERS FROM 2025

Our 2025 key lineup brought together influential leaders, clinicians, and innovators driving change in mental health. 

View speakers

Shae Ronald

Chief Executive

Youthline

Dr Leeanne Fisher

National Chief of Mental Health & Addiction

Health New Zealand

Maree Guerin

Clinical Implementation Lead IPMHA South Canterbury

Health New Zealand

Why you should be there

  • Stay informed on the Mental Health Bill 2025 and sector-wide transformation
  • Gain insights from clinical leaders, policy experts, and those with lived experience
  • Explore culturally safe care models and community-led approaches
  • Dive into new models of integrated care, digital tools, and early intervention
  • Access strategies to strengthen resilience, safety, and support for frontline teams
  • Build meaningful connections across health, social services, education, and beyond

Who should attend?

  • Mental Health Professionals – psychologists, nurses, social workers, and ED staff
  • Service Leaders & Management – across Health NZ, NGOs, and community providers
  • Policy Makers & Government Advisors
  • Peer Support Workers & Lived Experience Advocates
  • Primary Care & Addiction Specialists – including PHOs and integrated care teams
  • Māori & Pacific Health Providers & Leaders
  • Youth-Focused Practitioners – educators, school counsellors, youth workers, and Rangatahi advocates
  • Researchers, Academics & Innovators – in mental health, digital health, system reformers

Transforming Mental Health scholarship scheme

If you are a mental health service user or have lived experience of mental health issues and wish to attend the conference in a personal capacity, Brightstar is delighted to make available a limited number of free conference tickets. Register your interest in being considered for a scholarship place by completing the application form.
Applications close 22 September.

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Venue

The location and how you can get there

Address

James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor 147 The Terrance, Wellington 6011

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2026 Agenda:

8:50

Registration and Coffee

9:00

Opening Remarks from the Chair

9:10

From Strategy to Delivery: The Future of Mental Health and Wellbeing in Aotearoa

  • Understanding the direction of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2036

  • What the Strategy means for mental health, addiction and wellbeing services

  • Understanding the relationship of the new Strategy to existing strategies and plans and how they will come together to create a unified approach to better mental health and wellbeing

  • What professionals across the sector need to prepare for in 2026 and beyond – exploring the implementation plan detailing how the system-level shifts reflected through strategic actions will be achieved


9:50

Legal Update: The Mental Health Bill

  • Key differences between the current Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 and the proposed Mental Health Bill

  • The criteria to be met for entry to and exit from the proposed Mental Health Bill

  • The role of supported decision-making

  • Practical implications for clinicians, lawyers, advocates, whānau, and mental health and disability service providers

  • How the Bill aligns with wider legal reform, including the review of the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988

Iris Reuvecamp, Principal, Vida Law

10:30

Morning break

11:00

Equity in Mental Health: Moving Beyond Equal Access to Fair Outcomes

  • Understanding the difference between equality and equity in mental health care

  • Why equal access does not always result in equal outcomes

  • What the research tells us about inequities for Māori, Pacific peoples and other underserved communities

  • How service design can unintentionally exclude the people most in need

  • What culturally responsive, community-led and whānau-centred care can look like in practice

  • Practical steps for mental health professionals to reduce inequity across access, experience and outcomes

Lee Colquhoun, Chief Operating Officer, Te Puna Ora o Mataatua

11:30

Primary Care as the Front Door: Integrating Mental Health and Addiction Support through Te Tumu Waiora and Access and Choice

  • Understanding the role of Te Tumu Waiora and Access and Choice in primary mental health care

  • Exploring how general practice can become a stronger front door for mental health and addiction support

  • Embedding Health Improvement Practitioners, Health Coaches and community support workers into primary care settings

  • Delivering same-day, low-barrier and culturally responsive support

  • Reducing pressure on specialist, secondary and crisis services through earlier intervention

  • Strengthening pathways between GPs, NGOs, Kaupapa Māori providers, Pacific providers, community services and specialist teams

  • Addressing workforce, funding, governance and consistency challenges as integrated care continues to scale

Dr David Codyre, Clinical Lead Mental Health, Tamaki Healthcare

12:00

Beyond the ED Door: Improving Mental Health and Addiction Response Across the Acute Care Pathway

  • Supporting ED teams who are managing complex presentations without specialist mental health training

  • Identifying bottlenecks between ED, crisis assessment, inpatient care and community follow-up

  • Improving collaboration between emergency, mental health, addiction, crisis and community services

  • Strengthening timely assessment, referral pathways and escalation processes

  • Designing safer discharge planning, warm handovers and wraparound support

  • Reducing repeat ED visits through earlier intervention and better continuity of care


12:40

Lunch

13:40

The Power of Early Conversations

  • Why prevention, early intervention, and mental health education are essential in today's mental health landscape

  • Recognising the opportunities for support that exist in everyday settings - workplaces, homes, schools, and communities

  • Moving from awareness to action: building confidence for safe and supportive conversations

  • Empowering everyday people to play a meaningful role in mental health and wellbeing

  • The role of Mental Health First Aid and education in strengthening community capability and resilience

  • Creating cultures where people feel safe to speak up earlier through trust, connection, and psychological safety

  • Shifting from crisis response to collective responsibility: how small conversations create lasting ripple effects

Jordan Shearer, Mental Health and Well-being Programme Lead, Hato Hone St John

14:00

Suicide Prevention in Practice: Strengthening Protective Factors and Early Intervention

  • Understanding suicide prevention as a shared responsibility across health, community and social services

  • Moving beyond crisis response to prevention, early intervention and wellbeing promotion

  • Identifying risk factors, protective factors and early signs of distress

  • Supporting Māori-led, whānau-centred and culturally responsive prevention approaches

  • Addressing higher-risk groups, including young people, Māori, Pacific peoples, rainbow communities, rural communities and people experiencing social or economic hardship

  • Building stronger pathways between primary care, specialist services, schools, workplaces, NGOs and community supports

  • The role of lived experience, peer support and postvention in preventing further harm

  • Practical strategies mental health professionals can use to reduce risk and strengthen hope, connection and safety

Leilani Fina'i Clarke, Senior Manager of Suicide Prevention – Pacific, Le Va

14:40

Crisis Recovery Cafés: Expanding Community-Based Support for People in Distress

  • Understanding the Crisis Recovery Café model and its role in the mental health system

  • Providing calm, non-clinical and peer-led support for people in distress

  • Supporting people before, instead of, or after ED and crisis service contact

  • Strengthening pathways into community, primary care, addiction and specialist services

  • Reducing pressure on ED, crisis teams, police and frontline workers

  • Exploring what is needed to scale community-based crisis support safely and sustainably

Leilani Maraku, Chief Executive Officer, Mana o Te Tangata

15:00

Afternoon Break

15:30

Lived Experience Leadership: Strengthening Peer Support Across the Mental Health System

  • Exploring the growing role of peer support workers across mental health and addiction services

  • Recognising lived experience as a valuable source of trust, connection and practical insight

  • Understanding how peer support can improve engagement, recovery and service experience

  • Strengthening collaboration between peer workers, clinicians, NGOs, crisis teams and community providers

  • Addressing workforce challenges around training, supervision, safety, recognition and career pathways

  • Building a mental health system where lived experience is embedded, valued and meaningfully supported

Amanda Bradley, National Manager - Consumer, Peer Support, Lived Experience, Te Pou

Gina Giordani , Lived Experience Project Lead, Te Pou

16:20

Panel Discussion: Frontline Under Pressure: Responding to Mental Health Crisis in a Health- Led System

• What the shift from Police-led to health-led mental health crisis

response means in practice

• How reduced Police attendance is impacting EDs, crisis teams, ambulance and community services

• Managing safety, risk assessment and escalation in a health-led response model

• Supporting frontline workers who are carrying increasingly complex crisis demand

• The role of co-response teams, peer support, Crisis Recovery Cafés and acute alternatives

• Strengthening protocols, handovers and referral pathways between health, Police, ambulance, NGOs and community providers

• What the workforce needs to respond safely and sustainably: training, supervision, staffing, safety planning and clear escalation pathways

Representative from Hato Hone St John

Kerri Butler, Founder, Take Notice

17:00

Summary remarks from the Chair & Networking Drinks

8:50

Registration and Coffee

9:00

Welcome back remarks from the Chair

9:10

Mental Health and Addiction in Aotearoa: System Priorities, Service Pressures and the Road Ahead

  • Providing a national update on mental health and addiction services in Aotearoa New Zealand

  • Exploring current system priorities, service pressures and areas of growing demand

  • Highlighting progress, challenges and key gaps across access, workforce and delivery

  • Examining what national direction means for providers, leaders and frontline teams

  • Sharing insights on strengthening connected, timely and community-responsive support

  • Looking ahead to the next phase of mental health and addiction reform


9:50

Panel Discussion: Young People’s Mental Health: Building Earlier, Inclusive and More Connected Support

  • What current research and youth wellbeing data tells us about early signs of distress, unmet need and service gaps

  • Reviewing evidence on what works in early intervention and secondary prevention for young people

  • Understanding the role of accessible, acceptable and youth-friendly supports in improving engagement and outcomes

  • How co-design with young people can strengthen the quality, relevance and effectiveness of services

  • How co-design with young people can strengthen

  • -Building a Rainbow Competent mental health & addictions workforce

  • -The disproportionate impact we are seeing for disabled rangatahi and what is needed to address this

  • -What young people need from services, professionals, whānau, communities and government

  • -The role of the youth mental health collaboration and the emerging youth mental health roadmap and action plan

Shae Ronald, Chief Executive Officer, Youthline

Judy O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer, Inside Out

10:40

Morning break

11:00

The Future of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in New Zealand: Promise, Caution and Clinical Readiness

  • Exploring the emerging role of psychedelic-assisted therapy in mental health treatment

  • Understanding where New Zealand currently stands on psilocybin, MDMA and clinical access

  • Examining the potential for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and complex trauma support

  • Balancing therapeutic promise with safety, evidence, ethics and regulatory oversight

  • Discussing what clinical readiness means for psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health services

  • Considering how Aotearoa can develop safe, equitable and culturally responsive models of care

Gary Wynn, Consultant Psychiatrist, Ecdysis Clinical Psychedelic Therapy; Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

11:50

Mental Health, Addiction and Corrections: Strengthening Support Across the Justice Pathway

  • Understanding the mental health and addiction needs of people in the justice and corrections system

  • How screening, assessment and referral pathways work when someone enters prison

  • The role of prison health teams, forensic mental health services and addiction support

  • Addressing trauma, substance use, neurodiversity, brain injury and complex needs

  • Supporting continuity of care between prison, community mental health, primary care, housing and whānau support

  • Strengthening rehabilitation and reintegration to reduce relapse, crisis and reoffending

  • What better collaboration between Corrections, Health, NGOs, Kaupapa Māori providers and community services could look like

Erik Monasterio, Consultant in forensic psychiatry, Orko

12:30

Lunch Break

1:30

Case Study: Peer Support in Refugee Communities: Empowering Lived Experience to Support Healing and Connection

  • Exploring the role of peer support in improving mental health outcomes for refugee communities

  • Recognising the power of lived experience in building trust, safety and cultural connection

  • Supporting people through trauma, settlement stress, isolation, grief and identity challenges

  • Understanding how peer workers can bridge gaps between communities, services and professional support

  • Strengthening culturally responsive, community-led and trauma-informed approaches

  • Highlighting how empowerment, belonging and shared understanding can support recovery and resilience

Aklilu Hibtit, Cultural Director, Refugees as Survivors NZ

2:00

Case Study: Tauranga’s Mental Health Co-Response Team: Building a Health-Led Response to 111 Crisis Calls

  • This case study will examine the development of Tauranga’s mental health co-response team and what it tells us about the future of crisis response in New Zealand. As Police reduce their default role in mental health callouts, the Tauranga model provides a timely example of how Police, mental health clinicians, peer support and crisis services can work together to provide faster, safer and more appropriate support for people in distress.


2:30

Summary remarks from the Chair & end of Conference

Back to top

2026 Speakers:

Dr David Codyre

Clinical Lead Mental Health
Tamaki Healthcare

Kerri Butler

Founder
Take Notice

Gina Giordani

Lived Experience Project Lead
Te Pou

Lee Colquhoun

Chief Operating Officer Organisation
Te Puna Ora o Mataatua

Aklilu Hibtit

Cultural Director
Refugees as Survivors NZ
Aklilu Hibtit, an alum of the class of 2025 Leadership New Zealand, is the Cultural Director at Refugees As Survivors New Zealand (RASNZ) and a respected senior leader in Aotearoa, New Zealand’s refugee resettlement sector. Originally from Eritrea in East Africa, Aklilu is a qualified and registered social worker with extensive experience in frontline support, team leadership, and senior management. Over the years, Aklilu has worked with various agencies across New Zealand, leading diverse teams and contributing meaningfully to operational and strategic development. Aklilu’s work is deeply informed by his lived experience as a former refugee. He brings authenticity, empathy, and deep cultural insight to his approach and is committed to delivering culturally responsive, community-centered services that uphold dignity and inclusion. In addition to his role at RASNZ, Aklilu is a member of the Refugee Alliance Steering Committee and volunteers with other collective groups that support and advocate for meaningful resettlement and improved wellbeing.

Gary Wynn

Consultant Psychiatrist,; Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience,
Ecdysis Clinical Psychedelic Therapy; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Dr G Wynn is a consultant psychiatrist and founder of Ecdysis Clinical Psychedelic Therapy Limited in Wellington, providing psychiatric and psychedelic treatment services. Previously a senior medical officer at Capital and Coast DHB, he founded Wellington Regional Hospital’s ketamine clinic for PTSD and depression. He is Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Uniformed Services University, a retired US Army Colonel, and an internationally published expert in PTSD, psychiatry and mental health, with over 100 publications.

Judy O’Brien

CEO
Inside Out

Amanda Bradley

National Manager - Consumer, Peer Support, Lived Experience
Te Pou

Leilani Maraku

Chief Executive Officer
Mana o Te Tangata
Leilani Maraku is Manukura Chief Executive of Mana o te Tangata Trust, a Kaupapa Māori Mental Health and Addiction peer support service across Manawatū, Tararua and Horowhenua. She develops services for adults, youth and whānau, and is committed to amplifying the voices of tangata whaiora in health system change. Her leadership includes roles with Te Rau Ora, Te Kete Pounamu and regional lived experience rōpū, with a strong focus on whānau-led pathways to mauri ora.

Leilani Fina’i Clarke

Senior Manager of Suicide Prevention – Pacific
Le Va
“E fofo e le alamea le alamea”: the solutions to Pacific suicide lie within Pacific communities themselves, grounded in culture, relationships, collective wisdom and community leadership. Leilani Clarke is a senior leader in suicide prevention with over 20 years’ experience across the public, community, wellbeing and creative sectors in Aotearoa New Zealand. A proud Samoan woman, she is Senior Manager, Suicide Prevention Pacific at Le Va, where she leads national suicide prevention programmes, supports the Pacific Suicide Prevention Community Fund, and strengthens workforce and community capability. Leilani has contributed to culturally grounded initiatives including FLO: Pasifika for Life and Mānava Ola: LifeKeepers for Pacific Training. She is also co-founder of Kinetic Wayfinding, a wellbeing-focused performing arts company using storytelling, movement and Pasifika relational approaches to strengthen identity, connection and resilience.

Jordan Shearer

Mental Health and Well-being Programme Lead
Hato Hone St John

Shae Ronald

Chief Executive
Youthline
Shae Ronald, ONZM (pronouns she/her) is the CEO of Youthline Auckland – Te Ara Taiohi Whakatapua Kia Ora Ai, and National Youthline Coordinator and Spokesperson. She grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau.
Shae practised as a lawyer for 10 years including family and youth law and has over 31 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in the community and quasi government agencies, many in a youth focussed capacity. She stepped into the CEO role at Youthline 8 years ago, having worked in the organisation.
Shae has been a strong advocate for youth voice, human rights and the mental health and wellbeing of young people and the rainbow community over many years.
She is excited about the passionate people working together in the youth mental health space to improve youth mental health and wellbeing in Aotearoa, New Zealand and believes that collaboration is key.

Sponsors

Sponsors to be announced

Gold Sponsor

Umbrella Wellbeing

Silver sponsors

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Exhibitors

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

Umbrella Wellbeing

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