Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is run annually by the Mental Health Foundation and has been since 1993.
MHAW is endorsed by the World Federation for Mental Health and is marked in over 150 countries at different times of the year.

In New Zealand, MHAW will be held on 23–29 September 2019 and the theme is:

Explore your way to wellbeing – Whāia te ara hauora, Whitiora.

This Mental Health Awareness Week we’re asking Kiwis across Aotearoa to explore their way to wellbeing – that means we want you to discover the things that make you feel good and do more of them! When you uplift your personal wellbeing, you uplift the wellbeing of your whānau, communities and Aotearoa as a whole.

Mental Health Awareness Week is underpinned by Te Whare Tapa Whā, a model that describes health as a wharenui/meeting house with four walls. These walls represent taha wairua/spiritual wellbeing, taha hinengaro/mental and emotional wellbeing, taha tinana/physical wellbeing and taha whānau/family and social wellbeing. Our connection with the whenua/land forms the foundation.