The country has second highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD and young, Maori men continue to be disproportionately represented in statistics

'We have to start talking about it': New Zealand suicide rates hit record high

“We have to start talking about it. We would never be ashamed of our boy and we feel so strongly that people have to wake up to what is going on in this country – it is an epidemic.”

Jane Stevens is speaking on the phone, talking about her son Nicholas Taiaroa Macpherson Stevens.

The 21-year-old died in April. In hindsight, there were subtle clues. Small, strange things the usually benign and peaceful Nicky said, veiled hints that he had devastating plans that would end his short, vibrant but tumultuous life.

“As parents we felt like we were scratching our fingernails against a plate glass window trying to get people to listen,” Stevens continues.

“He tried to ask for help many times, in his own way. As much as we wanted to support Nicky in every way possible we also didn’t have the level of knowledge we needed to support him effectively. Nobody talked about it, we weren’t and aren’t the experts.”

The bucolic Southern Alps, glacier carved fjords and lush pastoral landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand mask a dark statistic – one of the highest suicide rates in the western world.

Barriers and safety nets at suicide hotspots can reduce rates by 90% Read more

From Bluff at the bottom of the South Island to Moerewa in the poorer North, New Zealanders are killing themselves at unprecedented rates.

This month the Office of the chief coroner released provisional suicide statistics that found in the past year 564 people died by their own hand – the highest number of suicides since records began eight years ago.

The figures – which are nearly twice the annual road toll – means New Zealand has the second highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

The number of male suicides rose from 385 last year to 428 this year, and female suicide deaths have dropped from 144 to 136. Young, Maori men continue to be disproportionately represented, but figures for older New Zealanders have also increased, and rural farmers taking their own lives remain high.

Chief coroner judge Marshall said the figures are “appalling”, and show despite more open discussion of suicide, the problem remains unnervingly stubborn.

“Over the last eight years I believe we’ve seen a shift in society’s preparedness to have a more open conversation about suicide, but we are not seeing any movement in what is an unfortunate static annual figure.”

Despite millions of dollars of government investment, national advertising campaigns urging people to ask for help, emergency crisis numbers and countless community focused initiatives country-wide the lives lost have kept growing.

The risk factors for suicide are largely universal – a history of mental disturbance or mental illness, poverty, isolation and unemployment.

But Otago University academic Dr Shyamala Nada-Raja, a senior researcher at the School of social and preventive medicine and an expert on suicide, believes there is a failure to address something unique and intrinsic to New Zealand culture – its youth as a country and a fragmented, uncertain identity.

“Have we been addressing the wrong things because are we missing the root cause, something much deeper?” she says.

“It is perhaps an existential void that we are dealing with here. Who are we as a country, who are we as a people, what is our purpose and meaning? New Zealand is a relatively new country, compared to Britain for example. We are still probably feeling our way through things and we haven’t got the right combination yet. If we get bombarded by an economic downturn that is likely to impact us on a greater scale than some of these older countries that have gone through these cycles before.”

Moira Clunie, from the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation, agrees.

“We know connection to identity is a protective force. And there is a huge lack of access to a strong, cohesive cultural history in New Zealand. When Maori have access to their language, geneology, whakapapa and marae, they are really strong preventive measures against mental distress and suicide.”

Maori comedian Mike King was so ashamed of the depression that had plagued him his whole life he didn’t ask for help until his mid 40s. Now he travels the country encouraging young people to do the same, and says he receives daily phone calls from people who have lost someone to suicide, or are contemplating it themselves.

“I got to 45 and I got sick and tired of being sick and tired,” says King. “I thought ‘Well I can always kill myself tomorrow, I might as well open up and talk about what is happening and see what happens.’”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest New Zealand comedian Mike King says the “staunch” culture of New Zealand men means they often suffer depression in silence. Photograph: Mike King

According to Statistics New Zealand Maori account for 15% of New Zealand’s 4.5 million people, but they represent more than 50% of New Zealand’s prison population, can expect to die seven years younger than non-Maori and have an unemployment rate of 12.4%, compared to 5.9% for non-Maori. From a suicide prevention framework these factors mean they are a high-risk group, but King believes the “staunch” male Maori culture is also to blame.

“A lot of young Maori men coming into puberty are thinking about what it means to be a man and I think Maori men in particular have a skewed outlook on that,” says King.

“They believe being a man in Maori culture is to be staunch, to be the protector and the provider and to show strength at all times. A depressive thought or a suicidal thought won’t kill you. But holding on to that thought and trying to battle through it alone, that’s the killer. So what we need to do is create a society that makes it OK for men to talk about their problems.”

Dr Nada-Raja says the “staunch, hard” character profile of the New Zealand male – think Sir Edmund Hillary and the mighty All Blacks – should not be unduly criticised, as it is “unique” and has “served New Zealand men well for years in a pioneering country”.

“Being strong and stoic is not a bad thing necessarily. We might not be able to reach this group with our conventional way of doing things, but there are perhaps other ways to reach men with this kind of character profile – ideas like the men’s shed.”

TV presenter and radio host Sharyn Casey has battled with depression and anxiety since her early teens. There were times she “considered ending it all”, but a strong family and “rock-steady” husband helped her recover, and she is now a highly successful media personality.

“I was heartbroken [when I heard the statistics],” says Casey.

“It made me so sad that so many New Zealanders felt that helpless and that they felt like they didn’t have any other choice.”

As a way of reaching out, Casey made an emotive video, which she posted on YouTube, begging New Zealanders to ask for help.

“I don’t want to read another article like this. I’ve seen firsthand how it affects people’s families and I know from experience that it does get better. I’ve got to try and spread that message and get people talking. If John Kirwan’s words helped me, then maybe I can help someone else.”

Former All Black Sir John Kirwan, who fronts a national depression campaign and has written two self-help books, including best-seller All Blacks Don’t Cry, has, experts and pundits alike agree, done more to raise awareness and destigmatise mental health problems and suicide than just about any other New Zealander.

“I went to a mate of mine, and he said ‘harden up’,” Kirwan tells New Zealanders in a TV commercial.

“Hardening up is not what you need to do.”

Nicky Stevens’s family are now demanding the ministry of justice and the Waikato district health board launch an independent inquiry into his death, and issue a formal apology.

Jane Stevens says New Zealanders are “in denial and choked in shame” about the high suicide rate, and until a culturally anchored, whanau (family) based approach becomes the norm, suicide figures will remain static.

“We need a much more whanau centred approach, rather than a clinical, hospital-based approach. Maori do not like hospitals, hospitals are very monocultural. Those kinds of services do not meet anyone’s cultural or spiritual needs.

“Vulnerable people need to heal, but there was nothing healing about the way Nicky was treated. Nothing to give him hope for the future.”

• Lifeline Aotearoa can be reached in New Zealand on 0508 828 865. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.