Mental health careers
in New Zealand
One team, with the person and whānau at the centre.
We recruit across psychiatry, psychology, occupational therapy and social work. We do not currently have mental health nursing vacancies, and say so rather than collect your CV against a someday; the guides and tools below are yours either way.
Start with your profession
The team is shared; the registration route is not. Each profession has its own regulator and its own guide.
Psychiatrists
Community-first services, a registration route that can be quicker than most, depending on where you qualified, and old age, addiction, forensic, liaison, CAMHS or general adult within it.
Medical Council of New Zealand
Psychologists
Clinical scope across public services and private practice — and careers well beyond the traditional hospital model.
New Zealand Psychologists Board — the scope has to fit the role, not just the registration
Mental health nurses
No vacancies at the moment — employers here fill nursing roles from within New Zealand when they can. The guide covers registration and the move so you are ready when that changes.
Nursing Council of New Zealand
Occupational therapists
Mental health is one of the settings OT careers here reach into — and some roles are advertised profession-neutrally.
Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand
Social workers
We recruit social workers into mental health roles. The pathway checker gives you your registration route now; a full career guide is coming.
Social Workers Registration BoardAnother mental health role
Addiction practitioners, psychotherapists, peer and lived-experience roles. Send us your CV.
Send your CVSometimes the role matters more than the profession. A New Zealand employer may advertise for a “mental health professional” and consider applicants from several registered professions — looking for the right combination of mental-health experience, clinical skills, cultural capability and registration rather than one specific title.
If you are an occupational therapist or social worker who searched your own job title and found little, this is often why. The role you are right for may not be advertised under your profession’s name. Search by the service, not just the title — and ask us, because we read the adverts every day.
Fourteen kinds of service, three kinds of employer
Mental health work here is not confined to a mental health department. A psychologist might be in rehabilitation, persistent pain, dementia assessment or workplace health; a psychiatrist in old age, addiction, forensic, liaison, child and adolescent or general adult psychiatry. The mix of professions changes with the setting.
Core public services
The backbone of the public system, and where most overseas clinicians start.
Adult community mental health
Community teams carrying assessment, treatment and continuity for a defined population.
Psychiatry · nursing · psychology · OT · social work · peer supportAcute & inpatient
Inpatient units and crisis services, with intensity closer to what most overseas clinicians know — and shorter distances to the decisions.
Children & young people
Child and adolescent services spanning community and inpatient care, with family and school around every case.
Older-person & cognitive health
Later-life depression, anxiety and psychosis through to cognitive assessment, dementia and capacity.
Psychiatry · psychology · nursing · OT · social work · geriatric medicineForensic mental health
Court liaison, prison in-reach and secure services, at the interface of health and justice.
Show the specialist teams and the work beyond the hospital
Specialist teams
Smaller services where a specific expertise is the reason the team exists.
Eating disorders
Specialist multidisciplinary work spanning psychological, psychiatric, dietetic and medical care.
Psychiatry · psychology · nursing · dietetics · medicineAlcohol & other drug services
Community treatment, co-existing mental-health and addiction presentations, harm reduction and recovery-focused work.
Often includes addiction practitioners and peer workersHealth psychology
Psychological care alongside physical healthcare — chronic illness, adjustment, cancer services and long-term conditions.
Persistent pain
Multidisciplinary pain services where psychological formulation is core to the treatment, not an add-on.
Neuropsychology
Cognitive assessment and rehabilitation across neurology, older-person services and brain injury.
Beyond the hospital
Where a working week can look nothing like a hospital-based clinical role.
Rehabilitation & return to work
National rehabilitation and occupational-health providers at the intersection of psychology, occupational health and return-to-work.
Workplace wellbeing & EAP
Employee assistance, workplace mental health, occupational rehabilitation and organisational wellbeing.
Private practice
Independent or group practice — a different model around caseload, referrals, autonomy and remuneration.
Māori, Pacific & community-led services
Kaupapa Māori and Pacific providers delivering culturally grounded care, usually with whānau at the centre of the model rather than at its edge.
Public specialist services
Large integrated multidisciplinary teams, defined referral pathways, collective-agreement pay, and the full weight of the system around complex care.
Smaller teams, and more say over your caseload
Different referral routes and funding, and often a caseload you shape yourself. Public or private is not the same job with a different employer — the setting changes your caseload, your team, your appointment structure, your autonomy and what a working week looks like.
Whānau and community are inside the model, not beside it
For many clinicians arriving from the UK, the biggest change is the shape around the clinical work, though scope, cultural practice and where responsibility sits can differ as much: kaupapa Māori and Pacific providers delivering care on their own terms, peer and lived-experience roles inside the team, and whānau in the room by design.
Primary care · addiction services · physical health · rehabilitation
Housing · employment · education · disability support
therapy
lived experience
Māori & Pacific providers · NGOs · peer support · community organisations
Eating disorders · forensic · CAMHS · older persons · health psychology
Someone with severe mental illness who is also struggling to keep their tenancy and their job:
Manages diagnosis and treatment.
Coordinates ongoing care.
Provides psychological intervention.
Works on daily functioning and return to meaningful activity.
Addresses housing, finances and family circumstances.
Current opportunities
Registration, pay and the visa
Who regulates this work?
Each profession has its own regulator — named on its card above. Registration is the first gate and runs on its own timeline; the pathway checker gives you your route in about ten minutes.
What does the pay look like?
Public-system pay is set by collective agreement rather than negotiated role by role, so on the same step the same job pays the same wherever in the country you do it. Private and ACC-funded work sits outside that and varies.
Occupational therapy has an indicative band on its guide. Psychiatry sits on the ASMS senior medical officer scale, about NZ$198,000 to NZ$282,000. For psychology and nursing we confirm the rate for the role. The bands we do publish are on What could I earn?
Which visa would I need?
Most clinicians move on a work visa tied to an accredited employer. Several mental health professions, including psychiatrists, registered psychologists, psychotherapists, mental health nurses and social workers, sit in Tier 1 of the Green List (Straight to Residence) in Immigration New Zealand’s list in force from 9 March 2026, which changes the route considerably. Being on the list is not the same as qualifying: each occupation carries its own registration, qualification and role requirements, and the list changes. Check the official Green List against your own occupation before you plan around it.
On the accredited employer route the visa can run in parallel with registration rather than after it; other routes differ.
What about the rest of the move?
Schools, housing, healthcare, banking, shipping and the first few weeks each have their own guide.
Guides · resources — the practical side, in order.
Not sure which of these fits you?
The pathway checker shows your likely registration route before you commit to anything; your regulator makes the final decision.