Mike King says in the last year no child who had asked for a counselling session via Gumboot Friday had missed out. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The founder of Gumboot Friday's youth counselling initiative Mike King says the service is meeting demand and all young people who are coming through are getting sessions in an appropriate time frame.
Gumboot Friday has had a green light for its second year of funding but has had its targets increased after meeting the minimum numbers set for its first year.
In the first 12 months it has delivered 30,000 sessions for 10,000 young people, that target will go up to 40,000 sessions for 15,000 people.
It now has 700 counsellors, which is a 33 percent increase over the last year.
The government had announced the I Am Hope foundation (the parent charity of Gumboot Friday) would receive $6 million a year for four years to provide counselling services to five- to 25-year-olds, as part of the coalition agreement.
Last year the process by which the charity was awarded funding came under scrutiny by the auditor-general who said the way the decision came about was "unusual and inconsistent".
But Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has backed the charity saying it is helping thousands of young people get access to support faster.
King said the young people getting help fast was his measure of success.
Talking to RNZ's Checkpoint King said that this year all the children who had have asked for a session were seen in a timely fashion. He said no one missed out on counselling sessions.
Currently Gumboot Friday has got 742 counsellors on its books according to King, and another 70-odd were going through CV check.
He clarified that Gumboot Friday was a voluntary service, not a service provider.
"We provide a platform which connects young people in need of counselling, who would like counselling with professionals who can provide counselling.
"And we are meeting the demand, so everyone who's coming through is getting the sessions in the appropriate amount of time."
On average Gumboot Friday provided three and a half sessions per young person, King said.
If a young person needed more counselling sessions, the counsellor could reapply and Gumboot Friday would provide them with extra sessions, he said.
King rejected the assertion that children could only receive a maximum of four counselling sessions through the programme.
"If any counsellor comes to us and says they have a young person in need, on a case-by-case basis they will be granted extra sessions."
Previously many young people could only get a counselling session if they were in crisis, which was often too late, he said.
"We are an early intervention system where young people can voluntarily come forward and talk about a little problem before it becomes a big problem, before it becomes a suicidal thought," King said.
"However, if a young person comes to us in crisis and they need extra care, they reach out to us and we will pathway them to crisis teams and crisis mental health where and when it is needed."
King told Checkpoint that no other mental health service organisations in New Zealand delivered the same breadth of counselling services for anyone aged from five to 25 and gave "100 percent of the government funding to the counsellors" while covering the other costs themselves.
"So yes I am comfortable that we do this better than anyone else out there."
The minister has set a target for the next year for Gumboot Friday to organise 40,000 sessions for 15,000 people in the next 12 months.
Asked whether Gumboot Friday would be able to meet the minister's new target, King said "target schmarget, we will meet the demand".
King was confident that young people who came forward for counselling sessions would get them.
"I have said to the minister we will meet the target of any young person coming into our service up to $6 million a year."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
