Mental health advocate Mike King tells Guyon why taking government cash is like taking money from Gollum; the day he realised his homophobic comedy was doing real damage, and why kids don't talk to their parents about their mental health.

*Content warning: This video contains strong language and references to suicide, self-harm and alcohol.

Watch the video version of the episode here.

Mike King once described himself as an aggressive, politically incorrect, foul-mouthed, standup comedian. Now, he's one of the most high profile mental health advocates in Aotearoa.

In Budget 2024 his charity I am Hope got $24 million to provide free counselling for young people. There’s now a political fight about how the money was awarded.

Guyon Espiner sits down with Mike to ask about that and bigger questions over whether we have a mental health crisis in Aotearoa and how we should deal with it.

The aim of I Am Hope is to “forever change the way New Zealanders think, act and feel about mental health and suicide.” How so?

"And drive positive societal attitudinal change. And that's the key. Our whole Kaupapa is about changing the way people think, act and feel."

"I've been speaking to schools for the last 13 years. I've listened to over 250,000 young people. And here's what I know. 40% of kids in school will have a major crisis associated with some type of suicidal thinking before they leave school. Not in their lifetime - before they leave school.

Which is staggering to a whole lot of people. Guess what? It's normal. We've all had the thought. If you haven't left the house at least once in your life going, what's the point? You're living in a marshmallow."

"The stat that scares me is, 80% of those kids never ask for help. And the reason they never ask for help is because they're worried about what other people will think, say or do. And what's our message to young people who are travelling that journey? Reach out and ask for help! Excuse me?! “I've just told you, I'm scared of sharks. And your solution is to go swim with sharks, and maybe a dolphin will come along!”

So, what needs to change is, we all need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, what am I doing to make it more comfortable for young people to reach out and ask for help?"

"And the answer to that is, we're not doing enough. We're busy telling kids what to do, this is what you need to do. We need to start showing them vulnerability."…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details