Enhancing mental health services through joint delivery with employment and other essential community services: early lessons from an innovative New Zealand program

Purpose Clients often report reluctance in attending publicly funded mental health services, particularly when those services are provided at segregated and stand‐alone locations well known to the wider community. One way to address this stigma‐driven reluctance to attend appointments is to deliver mental health services in combination with employment services, education and training, income support, housing, disability support, legal services, and other health services, as an essential suite of community services. This paper aims to research this possibility. Design/methodology/approach The paper outlines the early planning and implementation phases of the Huntly Community Link project. Findings The paper finds that ongoing joint governance and management, clear on‐site leadership, and an evaluation strategy are needed to ensure joint service delivery goals are attained. Practical implications Several important practical issues emerge. For instance, differences in organisational culture take time to change towards greater support for the new joint service delivery goals. Social implications Early indicators suggest that the Huntly Community highly values the joint delivery of these essential services from a suitable purpose designed building. Originality/value This is an innovative New Zealand program that promises to reduce attendance stigma by nesting the delivery of publicly‐funded mental health services among a broad mix of other essential community services.