Youth mental health is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Depressive symptoms and anxiety have increased dramatically amongst secondary school-aged students and suicide is the leading cause of death among the 15-24 year age group in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Mental health services are unable to respond to this growing need and rangatahi Maori are disproportionately affected.
Decolonising the current youth mental health service provision is an opportunity for nurses (and others) to resist current practices, policy and service delivery models and then move toward self-determined strategies for Indigenous and other marginalised populations. I will share some examples of our research where we identify systemic inequity, explore understandings of Indigenous youth wellbeing and co-create new models of care and how they might contribute to the transformation of Indigenous youth mental health.