Mental Health and Wellbeing | Ministry for Ethnic Communities

For help with anxiety, distress or mental wellbeing, call or text Need to Talk? on 1737 to speak to a trained counsellor for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If it is an emergency, call 111.

Anxiety is very common during an emergency event such as flooding and evacuations. This is a normal response to a very stressful situation.

If you need further support for yourself or for others:

Mental health

Free-call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor
For youth and children, call Youthline for free on 0800 376 633, free text 234 or contact them via their web chat
Reach out to your usual health practitioner for support

Ethnic Service providers offering mental health support:

Asian Family Services – 0800 862 342 – Auckland based
Diversity Counselling New Zealand 0800 143 269 or text 021 0262 5587

Other useful information

Check out the Mental Health Foundation website for more information about how to access support: www.mentalhealth.org.nz
Mental health advice for coping after a traumatic event is available in English, Te Reo, Arabic, Farsi, Indonesian, Malay, Somali, Turkish, Urdu and New Zealand Sign Language
All Sorts - Looking after yourself and your loved ones in the aftermath of a natural disaster
Mental health and wellbeing support for affected business owners and managers
Kids Health – Coping with a Natural Disaster

Health care services

Health care services are continuing to provide care if you need it.

All hospitals, including emergency departments remain open. If you are seriously unwell and need emergency care, please call 111.

For general health advice and information call Healthline on 0800 611 116.

For less critical non-emergency care, people can phone their GP in the first instance. Most phone lines are available 24 hours, either direct or through an after-hours duty GP. Most GPs who would normally be open at the weekend have been able to open as usual.

For urgent, less serious, health concerns when your doctor is unavailable, contact your local accident and medical centre. Find your local accident and medical centre on Healthpoint.

Community pharmacies can support you if you don’t have your regular prescription medications. See a list of pharmacies on Healthpoint.

Health advice on floodwater contamination

Floodwaters can make people sick through:

ground surface
septic tanks
sewerage systems

There are ‘boil water’ notices in place in many areas affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. It is important to check your local Council Facebook page or website to see if you are under a ‘boil water’ notice.

It is important to make sure your food and water are not contaminated. Make sure you clean, drain and dry out the house as quickly as possible.

For information on staying safe after a flood, including food and water safety, check out: Te Whatu Ora floods and health

Other useful information

Mental wellbeing webinars

We have partnered with Blueprint for Learning to host a number of free stress, resilience and wellbeing sessions for our ethnic communities.

Blueprint for Learning is one of New Zealand’s largest training providers in mental health.

These sessions are free and run from late March until November. There are limited numbers for these sessions (some online, some in-person), so register today to make sure you don’t miss out.

Check out the Blueprint for Learning website for more information about these sessions.

Stress Resilience and Wellbeing online workshop (workshop)

Monday 20 March, 2-4.30pm

Register here: https://blueprint.arlo.co/register?sgid=4eae5ccb19ad40159433786bdda2beb7

Reset and Reconnect online workshop (workshop)

Thursday 4 May, 2-4.30pm

Register here: https://blueprint.arlo.co/register?sgid=56304a8e14504dca95ef4e10573e93b5

MH101 online workshops

May 15, 17 and 19, from 10am-12.30pm

Register here: https://blueprint.arlo.co/register?sgid=ca788aa81b3541818b237437babbccc2

MH101 Christchurch

Friday 28 July, 9am-4.30pm