“The Coalition Government has signalled major new investments in mental health and addictions, an area where NIHI has much to offer with our innovative support tools.”

“We hope the additional investment will enable us to expand the reach of our online and mobile programmes, such as SPARX, MyTeen and Ol@Or@”, says Professor Bullen.

But while the new funding is good news for improving access to quality support, he thinks it will be a huge financial and time-critical challenge to train a competent workforce sufficient to meet the demand.

“Innovative solutions will be needed to deliver training as well as delivering support to ensure a skilled, safe workforce.”

Professor Bullen said he was also pleased to see that funding will be directed not only treatment but also at tackling the underlying determinants of poor mental health and addictions, with major initiatives signalled for alleviating poverty, family violence and homelessness.

“Without a parallel investment in prevention, services will simply continue to be overwhelmed by growing demand.”