Youth Mental Health Foundation Set To Expand

National youth mental helath foundation Headspace set to expand

National youth mental health foundation, headspace, will open 13 new locations across Australia to support young people dealing with depression, substance abuse and other mental health issues.

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler made the announcement, saying that Headspace provided young people and their families and carers somewhere to turn.

“The new centres will provide information, promote early detection and offer holistic care tailored to young people in the areas of mental health, physical health, alcohol and drug use, and social and vocational support,” Butler said.

“We know that 1 in 4 young people will experience a mental health issue this year, making it the single biggest issue facing young Australians.

“However, three-quarters of these people aren’t receiving the professional help they need because of a lack of access to youth-specific mental health services.

“With the right early interventions we can give young people a better future and help them fully participate in the social and economic life of our community.”

Headspace chief executive Chris Tanti said that 90 centres were due to be operational by 2015.

“We look forward to working with these fantastic organisations to develop up world-class youth mental health services in these communities,” Tanti said.

“We’ve helped nearly 65,000 young people so far and by 2015 we’ll be seeing an estimated 72,000 people each year.”

The headspace Board has appointed the following agencies to operate headspace centres:

Queensland
Mackay – Townsville Mackay Medicare Local
Sunshine Coast – United Synergies Youth Service
Ipswich – Aftercare

NSW
Northern Sydney – North Sydney Local Health District
Tamworth – Centacare
Port Macquarie – EACH
Newcastle – Hunter Urban Medicare Local
Penrith – Uniting Care

Victoria
Ballarat – Grampians Medicare Local
Shepparton – Goulburn Valley Health
Outer East Melbourne – Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local

SA
Upper Spencer Gulf – Country SA Medicare Local

WA
Midlands – Youth Focus