Budget help for mental health story

MORE than $500m of federal funds for mental health care of children under 12 and adults over 25 should mean people only have to tell their stories once when seeking help, the boss of a national mental health service says.

The Geelong-based chief executive of youth mental service headspace, Jason Trethowan, said mental health care of young children and adults tended to be “siloed”. But in a show of support for the headspace model of community-based care, developed over the past 14 years for young people aged 12-25, the government will use it for the treatment of other cohorts.

“What the children and adults (mental health) services are taking up is, what other parts of the health system have been doing for years, and that is having teams where you should only tell your story once,” he said.

“At headspace, we look at mental health, general health, drug use, and work and study so what we might find is that developments might be similar (in other cohorts).”

The federal government’s mental health spend released in Tuesday’s budget also includes $278.6m for strengthening, enhancing, and expanding the headspace network to 164 centres across Australia.

A headspace centre opened at Ocean Grove this year. Another is due to open in Colac by December.

Mr Trethowan said headspace’s wide-ranging help meant more young people were confident to seek help after the positive experiences of peers.

“The brighter side of (the) COVID-19 (pandemic) is that mental health has been talked about at unprecedented levels,” he said.

“But that shouldn't be taken for granted, in that talking about mental health is one thing but actually talking about your own issues is another.

“Over many years, decades, there’s been a whole lot of unmet need, a whole lot of people who have been impacted by the stigma associated with seeking help for their mental health challenges. In some ways there’s been this hidden waiting list, and it’s a significant number.” if you or someone you know needs help, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or headspace on 5222 6690.