Local youth mental health services are about to get a shot in the arm. The youth mental health service Headspace has had federal funding approved to open a centre in Lismore.
It will be one of 15 centres that the group is establishing around the country, including at Gold Coast and Coffs Harbour.
The Headspace model combines mental health with a range of other youth-related services including alcohol and drug intervention, general health and even vocational services.
Page MP Janelle Saffin told local media the establishment cost were expected to be around $400,000 and the collaborative model meant it would be cost-effective to deliver.
‘Ninety-two per cent of young people reported improvements in their mental health after using a Headspace service,’ she told APN Media on the weekend.
Good onya Janelle for backing the dollars allocated to youth mental health “headspace”. This support will certainly help, but if those dollars were matched for similar help towards additional early childhood staff in preschools, the effects would be felt more widely. Every study of the very young has shown that the help needed to calm distressed todlers would keep them out of trouble later in life. Kids need coping skills and other interventions at a very young age, the longer you leave it the worse it gets for them.