Young Aotearoa is an important nationwide project. It will help to build a better, clearer picture of the mental health and substance use of children and young people. This is the first survey that has ever done this in New Zealand.

Taking part means being one of 8,000 people who will represent the experiences of over 1.3 million children and young people across the country. The survey will be used by the Ministry of Health and mental health service providers to understand how young people are doing today to better support them in the future.

The survey is for all children and young people – whether or not you’ve had any mental health or substance use challenges yourself.

If you have been invited to do the survey, then your household has been invited to represent other people in New Zealand who are like you.

Your home was randomly selected from addresses across New Zealand. If there is more than one 5–24-year-old living in your home, the child or young person who does the survey will also be selected at random

The random selections are how we make sure that the survey represents the voices of a diverse range of children and young people, from all over country.

Your voice will help to represent the 1.3 million children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Every selected household gets a letter in the mail from the Ministry of Health. The letter says the name of your interviewer from Ipsos and how to get in touch with them.

You and your family or whānau can contact your interviewer to ask questions. Or you can call Ipsos, the research company on 0800 478 783.

If you’re sure from the start that you don’t want to take part, you can tell your interviewer or tell Ipsos. That’s okay, and you don’t have to give a reason.

If you haven’t gotten in touch, then your interviewer will come to visit your home to check in.

When an interviewer comes to your home, here is what you can expect.

• They will introduce themselves and ask to speak to someone 16 or older about the survey.
• They will have an ID badge. You can call Ipsos on 0800 478783 to check their ID if you want.
• They will explain how the survey works and answer any questions you might have.
• The interviewer will help you figure out which people in your household will be able to take part. Up to two people – one caregiver, and one young person (12–24 years old) – from your home can take part if they choose.
• They will be kind and respectful. They are trained to be good at talking to children and young people about important topics.

Taking part is your choice. You can choose not to do the survey, or to skip any question or stop the survey at any time.

If you decide to take part, you and your family or whānau can choose a day and time for your interviewer to come back to your home. Before starting the survey, your interviewer will talk you through a consent form and what it means for you. Their job is to answer your questions and make sure you know what you are being asked to do, what to expect, and that support is available if you need it. There is no rush. There are different ways to do the survey.

• With your interviewer. In a private space, they will read out the question, and you reply out loud. There will be a few times when the interviewer will give you the tablet to answer a question yourself for extra privacy.
• With your interviewer, on video call. If you aren’t comfortable with the interviewer being in your home, they can also do the survey with you on video call – they will read the questions out loud and you reply.
• By yourself. Your interviewer will bring a tablet and headphones for you to use. If you want, you can go to another room.

If you are 12-17 years old, your parent or caregiver (the one who knows you best) will also be asked to do a survey and answer questions about you, too. This helps to give a more complete picture. You get to say whether that is okay with you. Usually, you do your surveys in different spaces. You won't be able to see or hear each other's answers unless one of you chooses to share them. Doing the survey usually takes about an hour. Some people take longer, like 90 minutes. You can take as long as you like. As a thank you for your time and your contribution, you will get a $50 Prezzy card.

Taking part is your choice. You can choose not to do the survey, or to skip any question or stop the survey at any time.

Like other surveys you might have done before, Young Aotearoa asks about you and your experiences. There are no wrong answers. Your answers won’t be shared with your parents or caregivers. We will also work with your household to make sure that surveys are answered in privacy - your parents/caregivers or anyone else won’t be able to listen in or look at your answers. You can have a support person with you if you want to, though. The survey asks about:Taking part is your choice. You can choose not to do the survey, or to skip any question or stop the survey at any time.

The survey asks about:

• Your mental health experiences, including any challenges, treatments or support you may have had
• Your experiences with drugs and alcohol, including any challenges, treatments or support you may have had
• You and your identity, family and home
• What you think and feel, like feeling respected, judged, included, important, or hopeful
• Relationships and how you get on with people around you
• Parts of your life that are hard for you, like your worries and tough times
• What you do to feel better, when you don’t feel good
• Being safe and being harmed, including self-harm, thoughts of suicide, bullying, abuse, and other difficult experiences
• Online activities like social media, gaming, and watching pornography
• What makes it easier or harder to get help when you feel you need it

These may not be easy things to talk about. If you don’t want to answer a question you don’t have to. You can also take a break, decide to stop the survey, or arrange to finish it another time. Your interviewer will help you and won’t judge you.

You can choose to have a support person with you while you do the survey if you want. If you are 12-17 years old, your parent or caregiver will check in on how you are doing during the survey.

If you need urgent help during the survey, your interviewer will stop the survey and get you the support you need straight away. This might involve connecting you to a parent or caregiver, or with Youthline. For more detail about this, click here.

You don’t have to answer all the questions if you don’t want to.

You don’t have to. Taking part is up to you.

If you decide not to take part, that is okay, and you don’t have to give a reason.

If you agree to start, you can still change your mind and stop the survey at any time.

If you change your mind after it’s finished, you can let Ipsos know and they will delete your answers. You can do that any time before 7 January 2028.

Your choice about taking part won’t affect any mental healthcare or support you are getting or might want in the future.

Your answers are kept private and not shared with others. The only time this changes is if your answers suggest that you are in danger, or that someone in your home is in danger of harm to themselves, harm to others, or harm from others. In that case, your interviewer or the research team may reach out to Youthline or other support services to work alongside you and make sure everyone is safe. But we still won’t show your answers to anyone that you know.

If you are aged 12-17 years and your parent or caregiver is doing a survey too, you won’t be able to see or hear each other’s answers.

Only a small group of people who work at Ipsos (the research company that is doing the interviews) can look at your survey answers. Your survey will get mixed with other people’s answers, and your name and other identity information will be removed.

The Ministry of Health will analyse the survey results, and will use computer tools for this. This might include AI. Any information used for the analysis is anonymous. Your information will never be entered into public AI tools or used to train public AI models.

When the Ministry of Health publishes results from the survey, they will only talk about groups of people. No one will be able to tell who took part in the survey.

At the end of the survey, you can choose whether your survey answers can be added to Stats NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a secure research database. This is completely optional and requires separate consent. For more about the IDI click here [link to IDI question below.

In the future, researchers may also use the survey data to learn more about the mental health of children and young people. Before the data is shared with researchers, any information that could identify you is removed.

If you’re interested to know more about our privacy policy, you can find it here.

We want to hear from a wide range of children and young people. You don't have to have had any mental health challenges or used any drugs or alcohol yourself.

There are a range of ways the survey can be completed - talk to your interviewer to come up with a plan that works for you. For example, doing the survey with a support person or with a sign language interpreter.

We can arrange a professional interpreter to support you or your child through the survey. Just ask your interviewer - they will make the arrangements and work with you and the interpreter to find a good time.

We also have translated information about the survey available in Te Reo Māori, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi, Samoan, and Tongan – click here.

A Prezzy card is a gift card you can use like a bank card. You will get an email with instructions. For more information, you can visit www.prezzycard.co.nz/faq

At the end of the survey, you can choose if you want to put your survey answers into the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI is a large research database containing information about people and households. Linking your survey answers to the IDI means researchers can learn even more about how mental health connects to other parts of life – like education, healthcare use, or family circumstances. This helps build a fuller picture and leads to better decisions about services and support for young people.

It is your choice whether to link your survey responses to the IDI. If you are under 16, your parent/caregiver has to provide consent too.

Stats NZ removes your name, address, and other direct identifying details or numbers. Only approved researchers can only access information in the IDI. They need to show that they will be using the information for a project that will help New Zealanders, as well as having to go through a series of checks and training. Researchers must follow strict information privacy rules, and can only use the data in a secure Stats NZ environment. Stats NZ checks all research results and won’t release any results that could identify an individual.

If you are happy to have your survey answers to the IDI, but then change your mind later, you can withdraw your data from the IDI by contacting Ipsos by 7 January 2028.

For more information on the IDI you can visit this page or watch this YouTube video.

We know that some of the topics in this survey can be tough to think about. If you get upset, you’ll have a lot of options.

You can:

• choose not to answer any question
• stop the survey at any time
• take a break
• finish the survey at another time
• have a support person with you for some or all of the survey
• talk to your interviewer – they are trained to be supportive and can show you where to find help if you need it. Depending on how upset you feel, support might include getting a parent or caregiver, or reaching out to support services.
• call Youthline or ask Youthline to give you a call to check in later. At the end of the survey there is also an option to request a callback from them.

If your answers show that you might be in danger of harm, Youthline will follow up with you within 24 hours to make sure you are safe and offer support.

Young Aotearoa has partnered with Youthline to provide free, private support. If you feel worried or just want to talk to someone, you can get in touch with them during or after the survey.

Yes, that’s completely fine.

If you don’t want your parent, caregiver, or whānau to do a survey about you, you can let your interviewer or Ipsos know. We won’t do a survey about you if you don’t want us to.

If you’re 16 or 17 and your parent/caregiver has already done their survey, can remove their survey answers about you, as long as you let us know before 7 January 2028.

The child or young person the survey asks about is selected at random.  If you are a parent or caregiver who is under 24 years old, you may be chosen to complete a survey about yourself or about your child.

Sorry, only households that have received an invitation in the mail can take part. This helps make sure the survey represents children and young people from all around New Zealand.

Absolutely! The results from Young Aotearoa will be published on the Ministry of Health website in 2028. There will also be a question in the survey that asks if you want to have the results sent directly to your email.

The published results will talk about patterns for different groups, for example groups of young people who have similar challenges. The results won’t talk about individual people, and no one will be able to tell who took part in the survey.