More than 20 people with lived mental health experience added to headspace workforce

Twenty-five people with lived experience of mental health issues are guiding young people to access help through headspace online at night, adding to clinical support on offer.

TWENTY-FIVE people with lived experience of mental health issues are guiding young people to access help through headspace online at night, adding to clinical support on offer.

Chief executive Jason Trethowan said the COVID-19 pandemic solidified the need for a nightly online chat service to seek help.

“We know that 50 per cent of people who access that service have never really spoken to a professional before about mental health,” Mr Trethowan said of the service available between 6pm and 10pm on weeknights.

“We know that clinicians that work online can actually create a positive pathway to local services.

“There’s nothing wrong with actually talking about your mental health and wellbeing.”

Mr Trethowan expects demand for headspace services will grow beyond 2020 levels next year as young people come to terms with the long-term impacts of the pandemic.

“We’re not keeping up with the number of people reaching out to us (nationally).”

Mr Trethowan has also signalled his interest in establishing a ‘friendship bench’ in a public place in the Geelong CBD staffed by people with lived experience of mental health to remove barriers for young people to first access care – if it’s backed by the community.

Responding to a two-year investigation into the Australian mental health sector by the Productivity Commission, Mr Trethowan said:

GPs should be able to liaise with psychiatrists routinely when treating people with mental health issues rather than having to always refer them on;

MORE work was needed to address the needs of those whose issues are too severe to access community mental health services but not severe enough to be treated in hospital, a group dubbed the ‘missing middle’; and,

BETTER co-ordination of mental health services was needed nationwide including in Geelong.

He said the Productivity Commission’s report showed too many people were falling through the gaps in available care from GPs and hospitals.

“There are an increasing number of people who are defined now as being in the missing middle.”

Mr Trethowan said the mental health care in Geelong was improving.

“The community should have great confidence that there is a solid foundation, but like the rest of Australia we do, absolutely, have gaps.”

The Productivity Commission recommended all schools should measure student wellbeing and report progress against standards under the watch of principals, and that national guidelines should be developed to train teachers to understand child social and emotional development.

“Young Australians at risk and their families cannot easily access support,” the report noted.

The report also states teachers should be better trained to recognised the early signs of deteriorating mental health.

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Originally published as More than 20 people with lived mental health experience added to headspace workforce