What you can access here
The resources on this site can help you give the best
opportunities to your students. You can:
Tūturu is grounded in evidence
Tūturu began its development in 2016, working together with schools and service providers across Aotearoa. Through this thorough process we formed a strong understanding of what would help to keep students engaged in education and improve their wellbeing.
This image shows who has been involved in developing Tūturu.

Our resources have been created together with our networks of experienced professionals in health and education, including teachers and youth service providers, to give clear, concise and consistent advice that can help you to effectively support student wellbeing.
We believe it’s important to build on things that are working without adding time and pressure to your busy schedule. That’s why our resources can be used both individually to help schools develop particular aspects of their work, or collectively to support a school-wide approach.
We are committed to evidence-based information, and have put in place rigorous oversight and evaluation. This means a strong governance group to oversee Tūturu, including representatives from the Ministries of Health and Education, the Health Promotion Agency and NZ Police. Continual evaluation of our development is also supported by New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
Our focus begins here because we know that alcohol and other drugs:
- Can impact on student wellbeing, attendance, and achievement
- Are a common reason for students to disengage from education
- Are an area where we are not applying what we know works to help students learn and develop
Start building on your school's approach today
We are preparing our students to live in a world where alcohol and other drugs exist. The good news is that what is already working well for other wellbeing areas can work for alcohol and other drugs too.
We know that these things make a difference:
- Having a positive school environment, where students feel like they belong and that their wellbeing is important.
- Having a lot of opportunities to engage in outside of class activities throughout the year.
- Having opportunities to develop skills in critical thinking, especially about what the social norms in their community are.
- Identifying students with slipping attendance or achievement, and getting them support as early as possible.
How we respond to a student’s substance use has more of an impact on their education than the use itself. The earlier we provide support and re-engage students in learning and extracurricular activities, the better their chances of success at school.
Our pilot schools have taken a step-by-step approach to implementing Tūturu
Each school took these four steps to implement Tūturu.
1
Identified that they wanted to improve student wellbeing
2
Identified the staff who would work with their local Tūturu supporter
(CAYAD Auckland, Youth Odyssey, Youth INtact, Sorted, Mirror HQ)
We are working with each school to continue creating helpful resources. Once we have completed the pilot, we will be able to support other schools to implement Tūturu.
Contact us
Go to the contact form