Auckland Mental Health Patient Faces Uncertain Future as Segar House Closes

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A patient at an Auckland mental health programme, which is set to close its doors in September, is expressing deep concern over the uncertain future that awaits her. Rauaroha Segar House, a publicly funded intensive service designed for individuals with long-standing or chronic mental health issues, will cease operations on 19 September. Heloise Cantin-Gilmore, a participant in the programme, described her time there as transformative, highlighting that it was one of the few realistic treatment options available to her.

Announcing the closure in mid-July came as a significant blow to Cantin-Gilmore, who now feels a profound sense of anxiety, fear, grief, and loss. “The effect this is having on me is having a great sense of anxiety, fear, grief, loss — mostly around whether I'm going to be alone again, essentially, dealing with my mental health issues,” she said. “There's just a great sense of loss happening at Segar House.”

Segar House, which currently serves nine patients and employs eight staff, offers group and individual therapy for those who have not responded to other programmes. Health NZ has stated that the low patient numbers make it difficult to justify continuing the service, and that clinicians would be better utilised elsewhere.

With no similar programmes available in the North Island, Cantin-Gilmore and her fellow patients were told they could return to other community mental health services or consider moving to programmes in Dunedin. “They said the other option was that we move to Dunedin, which isn't really a true option for any of us,” she said. “All of our livelihoods are here. Most of us have jobs. Our families are here. To offer to move to Dunedin as a substitute for a service we're getting here in Auckland is just kind of ridiculous, frankly.”

Cantin-Gilmore is uncertain about her next steps. “When they [Health NZ] told us that it was closing, they said that they would be in contact with us to arrange a meeting time with us, individually, to come up with some sort of plan about whether we could continue in the community mental health services or whether we'd go a different route,” she said. “None of us have heard from them since.”

Cantin-Gilmore expressed a deep sense of sadness, not only for herself but also for future patients who might have benefited from the programme. “Not only is there grief for me losing access to the programme, there's grief for potential future patients who could have access the programme, but also the clinicians themselves,” she said. “They're losing their jobs. They're losing their community.”

Cantin-Gilmore's father, Gus Gilmore, shared that the clinical team was supportive, but the uncertainty is taking a toll on his daughter. “It's been terrible. Heloise was really improving since she started the programme four months ago,” he said. “We hadn't seen that type of improvement in her general and mental health. Since [the closure was confirmed] she has gone backwards.”

Health NZ acknowledged the change and stated that individual transition plans are being developed for patients. Dr. Michael Shepherd, Health NZ group director of operations for Auckland, said that patients would continue to receive support through individual therapy, multi-disciplinary team reviews, key worker support, and group work. “There will be a different group of professionals involved in their care and differences in the types of group therapy available. The location for their individual and group therapy will change,” he said.

Health NZ is also working on redeployment options for staff. Labour's mental health spokeswoman, Ingrid Leary, has been critical of the government for not intervening to prevent the closure, calling it a political decision aimed at saving money. “This is specialised treatment and from the people I've spoken to, the families and the patients, they cannot access the level of care they desperately need and they're very worried about that,” she said.

Mental health Minister Matt Doocey stated that the closure decision was made by Health NZ and that he had assurances from its chief executive, Dale Bramley, that each patient would have a transition plan and that their needs would continue to be met.

As the closure looms, the uncertainty surrounding the future of Segar House and its patients continues to grow, raising serious questions about the long-term viability of mental health services in New Zealand.