New Regional Service To Support People With Mental Health Challenges Leaving Prison

Health New Zealand is establishing a new Regional Reintegration Service (RRS) across the Midland region, supporting people with complex mental health needs as they transition from prison back into the community.

The service is one part of a $50.9 million Government investment over four years to expand forensic mental health capacity supporting people across Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairāwhiti and Taranaki.

While in prison, Corrections provides for all aspects of a prisoner’s welfare and wellbeing, including their healthcare, accommodation, and daily necessities. However, once people are released, responsibility shifts across several services and agencies, and essential supports are often no longer in place.

Community mental health teams might receive a referral but be unable to contact or locate the person after release. While mental health teams continue to support people as they move back into the community, some people face complex social and psychiatric challenges that make it difficult to stay connected with these services.

Without continued support from agencies in the community, people can experience deteriorating health and struggle to meet their release conditions. Working alongside existing Corrections and community supports, the RRS provides people at high risk with intensive short-term support before and after release. This can include helping people access housing, income support, identification, healthcare, and other services that are critical to maintaining their mental health and stability in the community.

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Health NZ Midland Regional Reintegration Service, Service Lead, Alex Luka says the service aims to ensure people have the right foundations in place to successfully reintegrate into the community.

"Sometimes the basic things people need aren’t in place, they might not have a phone, identification, a bank account or somewhere safe to stay. Corrections provides opportunities for people to gain identification and bank accounts before they’re released, but there’s not always time for them to be processed.

“These things might sound small, but without them it becomes incredibly difficult to engage with healthcare, meet their release conditions or build a stable life in the community.

“With the right support at the right time, we can help break that revolving door cycle and give people a genuine opportunity to succeed in the community,” Luka says.

The new service builds on the experience of Waikato's former Prison Adult Transition Team, which provided intensive, relationship-based support for people with complex mental health and social needs. The new service will extend that approach across the region.

Health NZ Midland Regional Reintegration Service, Lead Coordinator, Joshua Kim says the service is focused on ensuring people continue to receive community-based services during one of the most vulnerable periods of their lives.

"We work alongside existing Corrections, and community supports to help people leaving prison, who may have nowhere to go, and who may have never sought community or mental health support before. We’re here to bridge that gap.”

In one recent example shared by the team, staff helped a man leaving prison with no accommodation, phone or income access temporary housing, reconnect with social services and remain engaged with mental health care and Corrections following release.

The regional forensic service has been working to develop and establish the service model, with implementation activity already underway across the region.

Recruitment is well advanced, supporting the continued expansion of service delivery through to December 2026.

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