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Six month wait times, distressed young people turned away: Demand outstrips supply at headspace

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Headspace centres are dealing with waiting times of up to six months

The federal government's key offering to tackle youth mental health, headspace, is turning distressed young people away from its service as it deals with waiting lists as long as six months.

The CEO of headspace Jason Trethowan told Hack he's concerned about the mental wellbeing of young Australians who are waiting for months to get support from headspace.

"It does worry me about the number of young people who do seek support [from Headspace], and don't get the timely support or the right support.

"If you get turned away, then of course, the human instinct is, why bother doing that again?"

On average, young people will currently wait between six to eight weeks for a psychologist appointment at headspace, but young people at certain centres are waiting many more months for their care.

This year, two headspace centres -- in Taringa, Queensland, and Hobart, Tasmania -- have been forced to pause the intake of new clients for a period of time. The books at Hobart's headspace are now open, but they're currently still closed at Taringa's headspace.

"It is uncomfortable. It's not what we want," Jason Trethowan said.

In June, headspace welcomed a $26 million funding boost from the federal government to reduce waiting times, as part of the government's seven-year, $152 million investment in the service.

The federal government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Headspace

Mr Trethowan said longer waiting times at Headspace were due to a number of factors. He cited increasing rates of mental health concerns during the pandemic, but also the success headspace has had in destigmatising mental health support for young people.

"It kind of reflects the evolution of youth mental health. When we started out 15 years ago, we were reaching out to young people to reduce the stigma, to increase mental health literacy, to come and seek support should you need it.

"Now young people are reaching out to headspace to saying, 'we've heard your call. We're here.'"

Headspace's waiting times have impacted young people like 21-year-old Ella*, in regional Victoria.

Earlier this year, Ella waited three months for a psychologist appointment at her local headspace before giving up and finding support from a private practitioner.

Ella says waiting for help made her mental health worse.

"I waited so long for headspace and kept holding out for it. I started to rely on a lot more unhealthy coping strategies to get me through that time period.

"It felt really disheartening, it felt like I wasn't taken seriously...I think it's quite brave to reach out for help when you can. It's like a trust process. You're hoping that someone will catch you when you do that. Because you know, that fall would be pretty bad if no one's there."

'No benchmarks for wait times'

Professor Ian Hickie from the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, who was a founding director of Headspace but is no longer formally involved with the organisation, said headspace is not "OK" in 2021.

Professor Ian Hickie wears a blue suit and red tie and looks into the camera from an office space.
Professor Ian Hickie says long waiting times can be 'disastrous' for young people in distress()

"Headspace is under real pressure. It's been promoted by everyone from the Prime Minister down as the solution to the youth mental health crisis. Everyone's saying if you have a problem go to headspace.

"So people assume it has the capability to respond. But it didn't have the capacity to respond pre-COVID, it was already struggling.

"There's no standards, accountability, or benchmarks in terms of waiting times."

Professor Hickie said there is a "tremendous surge" in demand for Headspace's services, and the organisation is lacking a skilled workforce to keep up with its workload.

He warned that there are "disastrous" outcomes for young people who are "completely left out in the cold" when turned away from the only free, federally-funded mental health service in Australia.

"People who are met with long waiting times assume they're not a priority, that their problems aren't serious. People lose confidence in the service, and it's very hard to go back."

Headspace can save lives

25-year-old Dana from the Blue Mountains credits headspace with changing, and possibly saving her life on multiple occasions.

Dana's especially grateful for the mental health support she received from a headspace psychologist during a rough patch a few years ago.

Dana says support from Headspace changed her long term mental wellbeing for the better

"He gave me a lot of perspective. And I think when you're in that kind of downward spiral, and you're so enclosed in your own mind, in your own head, it helps to have that kind of outside perspective to be like, your life isn't completely shit. It's gonna be okay."

Dana says she doesn't know what her mental health would be like without getting timely care from headspace, as it's carried her into adulthood.

"Even after all these years, I feel so much more adjusted. And I feel like my mental health has gotten to a point where it's incredibly stable. I don't have these really deep lows or really high highs. Having those tools given to me at a young and formative age has taken me further into adulthood in a more positive way."

Headspace CEO Jason Trethowan said young people who are waiting for a psychologist appointment at headspace can use the organisation's other services in the meantime.

"We have peer workers at headspace who can stay in touch by messaging. We have online group chats, we have online community forums on our digital services. And of course eheadspace is available between 9:00am and 1:00am, seven days a week. So therefore, you can still talk to a mental health clinician to remain engaged."

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