Headspace Services Announced

The Gillard Government has delivered on an election commitment to set-up new headspace youth mental health services – in Hobart and Melbourne- as part of ten new centres expected to begin operating around Australia by the end of the year.

Tasmania’s Link Youth Health Service will receive a $300,000 grant to establish a headspace service as well as ongoing funding to support the operation of the site in Hobart, according to the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler.

Announcing the new services in Hobart, the Minister said headspace will give young people and their parents and carers somewhere to turn to for help with the knowledge that 92 per cent of surveyed clients have reported improvements in their mental health after using this service.

The Link Youth Health Service was independently selected to run the Hobart site following an open Expression of Interest process by the headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation. The Foundation has as its members are the University of Melbourne, the Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Australian Psychological Society, Principals Australia and the Australian General Practice Network.

In Melbourne, Youth Substance Abuse Service (YSAS) has been appointed as the lead agency to run the new headspace centre in Collingwood, to assist young people with their mental health issues.

Executive Director David Murray says YSAS’s expertise in working with young people with a range of problems beyond substance abuse will inform the holistic approach to running the new Collingwood headspace centre, which will essentially provide services to the Inner East and is due to open later this year.

YSAS will run the new centre in conjunction with a range of other mental health professionals and services – St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) Ltd, Austin Health, Jesuit Social Services, the Melbourne Clinic, Melbourne General Practice Network, Melbourne East General Practice Network, the Mental Illness Fellowship, Mind Australia, and, North Richmond Community Health.

headspace offers holistic care in four key areas tailored to young people—mental health, physical health, alcohol and drug use, and social and vocational support. Since 2007, more than 42,000 clients have received support, information and treatment through headspace sites.

The Federal Government says the new Hobart and Melbourne headspace services are among ten new centres to begin operating around Australia by the end of the year, with up to 20 more services to begin by mid-2013. When all 30 new sites are operational, an additional 20,000 young Australians each year will have access to mental health services.

For more information about the national headspace program, see www.headspace.org.au