Nōku te Ao is needed because ending prejudice and discrimination against people with mental distress matters to everyone.

For the whole of Aotearoa New Zealand, Nōku te Ao will contribute to a more just society, greater community wellbeing, and it will reduce the cost of serious mental distress to the community.

Nōku Te Ao is a multi-level programme, based on kaupapa Māori principles, with national campaigns, and communications, media monitoring, and community-led social movement activities, education and social action grants. It is supported by research and evaluation.

People with mental distress have a major role in the leadership and delivery of the movement, and the same group will benefit from the achievements and successes of Nōku Te Ao too. The key group we want to influence are those with the potential to discriminate and exclude people with mental distress from accessing health services and employment.

The Nōku Te Ao: Like Minds strategy identified ‘a social movement is mobilised’ as one of seven critical success factors fundamental to the success of Nōku Te Ao. These critical success factors form the broad framework for the programme’s evaluation; the outcomes of which will contribute to:

• Public attitudes to people with severe mental distress are improved.
• Experienced discrimination among people with mental distress is reduced.
• Programme activities are associated with sustained improvement in attitudes, behaviours or structures.
• Māori and other priority benefit groups experience equitable improvements to their social inclusion.

Hāpai te Hauora, the Mental Health Foundation and Ngā Hau e Wha were selected to lead the Social Movement initiative.

The Social Movement Initiative workstream will support and grow a social movement led by people with lived experience. The lived experience advocates will develop innovative initiatives to challenge prejudice and discrimination against people with experience of severe mental distress.

The Mental Health Foundation will also administer the Social Action Grants for individuals and community organisations to develop innovative approaches to reducing prejudice and discrimination against people with severe mental distress.

Te Rau Ora and Te Kete Pounamu will deliver the Settings based Education for Social Change, a lived experience-led education programme to reduce prejudice and discrimination in settings such as primary health and employment.

Te Werohau – the Research and Evaluation unit of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi were selected to lead the Evaluation programme. They will explore the collective impact of the Nokū te Ao in addressing and reducing experiences of prejudice and discrimination among those of our communities afflicted by severe mental distress.

Te Werohau will work in partnership with Te Hiringa Hauora and our Nokū te Ao kaupapa partners, helping to build evaluation capacity and capability across the programme.