Harrowing stories of stress and anxiety have been by shared by students at the first of a series of mental health hui being run by the Green MP Chloe Swarbrick.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Students have been demanding better services and support since it was revealed that a student was told to leave her Victoria University hostel a day after she tried to kill herself.
Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick has started holding hui at universities around the country and has described New Zealand's mental health issues as an epidemic needing urgent attention.
She said 60 to 70 people turned up to the first one at the University of Canterbury yesterday, and told stories of stress, anxiety, isolation and exam pressures.
"The stress and strain and insecurity that young people in particular in society are facing in 2018 is becoming unsustainable for many," she said.
She said it was not good enough that vulnerable people should be turned away and put on waiting lists when seeking counselling or other mental health services.
Ms Swarbrick said more resources should be put into mental health services so that students in desperate need could access care 24/7.
"It is also currently a few weeks out from exam period so that stress and strain is pretty compounded," she said.