Defence staff suffer 'serious mental harm' from running course cited as boot camp blueprint

Defence Force staff running a celebrated military base course have suffered serious mental distress, with some even suicidal, as they struggle to deal with violent and at-risk youth.

The six-week Limited Service Volunteer programme - cited as the blueprint for National's proposed boot camps - promises a "fresh start in life" for unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds.

But a New Zealand Defence Force briefing paper from January, released to RNZ under the Official Information Act, warns of major problems with the course due to "a range of complex challenges" since 2018.

"Efforts to expand the scheme by 100 per cent (i.e. from 800 up to 1600) during the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic had been the greatest challenge for the NZDF," it said.

Struggling to fill those new spots, the Ministry of Social Development began referring trainees who previously would not have been deemed "physically and mentally fit" for the course, the briefing said.

In 2022/23, as many as 60 percent of the intake were deemed to have complex needs. The number of physical assaults on staff increased, resulting in a blow to morale, wellbeing and retention.

Ten NZDF staff suffered "serious mental harm including several cases of suicidal ideation", the memo said.

"From this experience, it is clear that NZDF staff are not trained to deal with more than 50 per cent trainee complexity before suffering serious harm."

The Ministry of Social Development and NZDF were working together to resolve the situation "as a matter of urgency", the briefing said.

Defence Minister Judith Collins told RNZ she had been advised that work was continuing and she was not worried about the state of the programme.

"There is now a more robust system in place since [a memorandum of understanding] was signed between the two agencies late last year, which has seen an increase in social workers assigned, and a more robust trainee selection process."

During last year's election campaign, National leader Christopher Luxon described LSV as "the programme National has modelled our boot camps for serious young offenders around".

In its briefing, NZDF also provided advice on the development of the boot camp scheme, but nearly all of it has been redacted.

NZDF: Minister's comments could cause 'public misunderstanding'

In a separate email to Collins in March, NZDF cautioned the government against overstating the military's involvement in the proposed boot camps and said the policy was "not comparable" to the Limited Service Volunteer course.

National MPs have repeatedly rebuffed criticism that boot camps are ineffective by pointing to the purported success of the Limited Service Volunteer scheme.

Appearing on RNZ's Morning Report on 6 March, Police Minister Mark Mitchell heaped praise on the scheme and said the proposed youth academies were "exactly the same thing".

"The LSV's hugely successful. If you extrapolate that out over 12 months, I think we've got a really good fighting chance of making a really positive influence in these young people," he said.

In an email to Collins later that morning, an advisor to the Defence Force chief stressed it was "not accurate" to suggest the boot camps would be extended LSV programmes.

"The [Youth Offender Military Academies] are not comparable with the LSV programme," the advisor said.

The email listed major differences between the schemes: the LSV course was a short-term volunteer programme for young adults, aged 18 to 24, with the goal of gaining employment.

In contrast, the youth military academies were then expected to be year-long custodial sentences for children, aged 14 to 17, following serious criminal offending.

Youth academies would have vastly different needs and security than LSV given the much more complex cohort of participants, the email said.

The advisor also noted that the Defence Force was assisting with the policy at a governance level only, not staffing facilities or delivering programmes.

"The minister's comments about the success of the LSV course could lead to public misunderstanding about the nature and extent of NZDF's role in [Youth Offender Military Academies]."

A spokesperson for Mitchell referred questions to Minister for Children Karen Chhour.

As recently as last week, Chhour also pointed to the LSV programme's success as evidence to support the boot camps, in response to queries from Te Ao Māori News.

Chhour told RNZ the government knew from the start that its policy was not going to be exactly the same as LSV, but it had learnt from how it had been run.

"I've been advised that planning for the military style academy pilot has looked at what parts of LSV programme could be relevant, have been shown to have success and could be applied to the pilot."

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ that the two programmes were different but their "principles" were the same.

"Carrying on the way we are ... not innovating, not trying to make interventions in these young people's lives ... it isn't working."

Oranga Tamariki is due to trial a version of the boot camp policy in Palmerston North in late July with 10 young people already in youth justice facilities.

The young people would spend three months in residence, followed by nine months transitioning back into the community.

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
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• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz|
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• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463 (6pm-9pm)

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