Over 90% of people in prison have a lifetime diagnosis of a mental health or substance use disorder. Help the YEPT reach them.

Imagine a kinder Aotearoa, where more of us, including people in prison, are able to access more tools to realise our potential, so we can be there for whānau and contribute to the wider community. To do this we need to better understand ourselves, and to address our mental health and wellbeing barriers.

Prisons have been described as the country's largest residential mental health service. One in five New Zealanders experience mental illness in their lifetime. In prison these figures are significantly higher; more than nine out of 10 people had a lifetime diagnosis of a mental health or substance use disorder.

The restrictive prison environment presents many challenges. With the support of yoga and meditation techniques we believe that these challenges can be transformed into spaces to reflect, to contemplate and to internally process attitudes and trauma.

Our toolkit for change is already making an impact:

“All of the [correspondence course] module was useful to me, mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I’m more aware internally and can control my thoughts better than when I started”.

“Yoga has helped me with my self-esteem and has given me at times, my only peace, and very often my only solace. I genuinely believe I am a better man due to this course”

Help us raise $10k to share our toolkit for change - yoga and meditation education, so that even more people in prison can improve their mental health and well being.