Supporting young people
headspace is an enhanced primary care model that addresses the unique barriers that young people face accessing mental health support. With a focus on early intervention, headspace provides young people (12 - 25 years old) and their families with support at a crucial time in their lives – to help get them back on track and strengthen their ability to manage their mental health in the future.
Support is available through 100+ national headspace centres, online services and clinical programs across Australia. All headspace centres are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health. Murray PHN works closely with the centres, lead agencies, and their consortia partners in our region, in supporting ongoing improvements to accessibility, integration, quality and effectiveness.
Nationally, more than 2 million occasions of service (help over the phone, online or face-to-face) have been provided at headspace centres. Locally, 6,193 young people have accessed 32,000 occasions of service in the past two years.
headspace centres in our region
headspace centres act as a one-stop-shop for young people who need help with mental health, physical health (including sexual health), alcohol and other drugs, or work and study support.
headspace centres are designed not just for young people, but with them, to ensure they are relevant, accessible and highly effective. As a result, no two headspace centres are the same, with each offering unique services that reflect the needs of its local community.
headspace centres in the Murray PHN region are (click on the location to be taken to their contact information):
Doctors in Secondary Schools
The Doctors in Secondary Schools initiative provides modern clinical facilities onsite at schools, and funds for a General Practitioner (GP) and Division 1 Practice Nurse to provide both primary care for students and contribute to the school's existing student wellbeing programs to help increase health literacy and preventive health. Murray PHN's role is to recruit GP clinics within the community to provide the school-based clinics, manage the contracts and provide support.
In August 2018, Murray PHN collaborated with headspace, the University of Melbourne and the Department of Education to coordinate two Doctors in Secondary Schools Forums in Mildura and Shepparton. 142 people in total attended the forums, including 21 GPs and 21 practice nurses.
The forums were an opportunity to bring clinicians together from across the region to discuss best practice, network with other service providers and contribute to planning for the future of the Doctors in Secondary Schools program.
Enhancing Mental Health Support in Schools (EMHSS)
The EMHSS program supports headspace services to work with Victorian Government secondary schools and young people to provide additional mental health services delivered through the headspace platform. The EMHSS program comprises the following components:
- Mental health interventions delivered by headspace centres (PHN commissioned activity)
- A regional phone counselling service delivered by eheadspace during school hours (headspace National via eheadspace) for schools without a headspace within 60-80km.
Page last updated 31 March 2022