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headspace Canberra and headspace Tuggeranong both provide early intervention mental health services to young people aged 12-25 years. They support young people to access the help they need for problems affecting their wellbeing, including mental health, physical health, alcohol and other drug services, study and work support. CHN, ACT’s PHN commissioned Grand Pacific Health as the lead agency of the two headspace centres in the ACT, with headspace Tuggeranong opening in July 2021.
Over the last year headspace provided services to a total of 1,396 young people, including 927 young people at headspace Canberra and 469 young people at headspace Tuggeranong.
ACT headspace centres work to build the resilience of young people by delivering effective youth mental health services in partnership with young people, their families and their local communities. The following headspace services are available in the ACT for young people:
- Mental Health Counselling – delivered by qualified mental health practitioners offering time limited, evidence-based counselling services.
- Online and phone support – headspace has a range of ways to support young people both online or by phone. Young people can get support for their mental health by simply creating a headspace account.
- GP support – support to address physical and sexual health issues as well as mental health consultations by a GP skilled in working with young people.
- AOD support – support to address issues with alcohol and other drugs delivered on site by our partner (Directions Health).
- Individual placement and support program (IPS) – provides in person, one-on-one support for work and study goals. IPS Vocational Specialists collaborate with a young person’s mental health worker to ensure the support they receive helps them achieve their goals.
- Peer support – access to a trained peer worker who uses their own experiences of a mental health issue to provide support and role modelling, as well as linking with services and supports both within headspace and the community.
- Care Coordination – support to link with the services and supports in the community that can support recovery.
- Family Supports – individual and group interventions that can support families and friends to more effectively support their young person’s recovery.
- Volunteering – opportunity for young people to join the Youth Reference Groups and work with other young people to inform service delivery in the centres and deliver community activities.
- Community Engagement – a range of community development and education programs delivered in partnership with other agencies across the Canberra region.
On average, headspace Canberra receives 30 referrals each week. Due to high demand, most young people who required mental health support were triaged from intake to a Mental Health Clinician for face-to-face psychological therapy with an average 10-week wait.
To combat this, the Brief Intervention Stream (BIS) was introduced in October 2021 to strengthen the support options available in the centre, acknowledging that not all young people require psychological therapy. BIS strengthens the support options available in the centre with young people who are clinically stable at the time of the referral accessing BIS. Approximately 10% of centre referrals received each month have been streamed to BIS which has allowed young people access to a brief, skill development focused intervention within two weeks, on average. This has helped reduce wait times for psychological intervention to around four weeks.
Client story
Sarah* (not their real name) is a university student in her 20s who presented to headspace experiencing a range of mental health symptoms. Sarah’s symptoms included avoidance, withdrawal, restlessness, low mood, sleeping difficulty, self-harm behaviour and suicidal ideation. At the time of intake, Sarah reported persistent and daily thoughts of suicide but denied intent or plan. She also had a history of self-harm but states that she had not self-harmed for some time. Given Sarah’s presentation at intake and her goals for headspace, she was recommended for mental health counselling with one of the headspace clinicians.
Sessions with the clinician utilised acceptance and commitment therapy including psychoeducation, cognitive diffusion, mindfulness, values work, behavioural activation, self-compassion as well as perspective taking.
Sarah engaged well in therapy and demonstrated good insight which assisted with her recovery. Sarah was open and willing to practice the activities and skills in session as well as in between sessions. Despite the risk factors, Sarah also had many protective factors such as supportive friends, family, hobbies and was goal oriented.
After 10 sessions of therapy, Sarah reported that she noticed a difference in herself such as increase in resilience, independence, and willingness to try out new things. A relapse prevention plan was completed collaboratively with Sarah and the clinician also encouraged Sarah to reach out to eheadspace or headspace for support if required in the future.
