On 22 February 2018, the Prime Minister announced a total of $28 million over three years to improve mental health for primary and intermediate children in Canterbury and Kaikōura. Canterbury District Health Board, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and inter-sectoral social service partners developed a new, integrated, approach for providing additional mental health support in earthquake affected schools now known as Mana Ake – Stronger for Tomorrow (Mana Ake).
Mana Ake is a holistic mental health programme that seeks to support primary and intermediate school children in Canterbury and Kaikōura to be resilient, and experience positive mental health and continued engagement in learning by being supported and enabled to access appropriate mental health support when needed.
Mana Ake in Canterbury and Kaikōura is led by Canterbury DHB, through a Canterbury Clinical Network Service Level Alliance, working with their local service level alliance partners to design and implement the service.
Mana Ake was externally evaluated by Malatest International. Along with the full report available here, the executive summary is available in the Expanding primary mental health and addiction support section on the Ministry of Health’s website.