Hon Matt Doocey
Minister for Mental Health
Hon Penny Simmonds
Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills

The University of Canterbury is to be commended for increasing its intake of clinical psychology students, Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey and Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds say.

“This Government is focused on increasing access to support and growing the workforce is critical to this,” Mr Doocey says.

Every year several hundred students complete an undergraduate degree in Psychology, but progression to specialised psychology is limited as only 80-90 graduates nationally are accepted into postgraduate programmes.

This means every year the majority of students who want to progress their career in clinical psychology are turned away.

“It is pleasing to see the University of Canterbury move on this and make ten additional spaces available in its programme,” Ms Simmonds says.

“Hopefully other universities offering these programmes will assess their own ability to increase enrolments.”

Minister Doocey met with Professor Cheryl de la Rey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury, during his visit. Professor de la Rey shared the University’s commitment to addressing the growing demand for mental health professionals in New Zealand through initiatives such as expanding the clinical psychology programme.

The Government has set a workforce target of training 500 mental health and addiction professionals annually.

“To reach this target, a number of initiatives are underway including increased numbers of funded psychology internships and psychiatry trainees, better utilisation of the Peer Support workforce and work to create innovative new roles,” Mr Doocey says.

Applications recently opened for tertiary education organisations to seek Government funding to develop New Zealand’s first postgraduate diploma programme for training the associate psychologist workforce.

This would provide an alternative training pathway for students graduating each year with a qualification in Psychology, who wish to progress their studies in this area.

“This new initiative will help support the Government’s target to grow our mental health and addiction workforce and improve access to services,” Mr Doocey says.

“This is about taking pressure off the existing workforce while providing new pathways for those interested in a rewarding career helping improve the lives of those struggling with mental health and addiction issues.” 

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