headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation | |
Formation | 2006 |
---|---|
Type | Non-governmental organisation |
ABN 26 137 533 843 | |
Legal status | Foundation |
Purpose | Providing mental health support to young Australians |
Headquarters | Level 2, 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria |
Region | Australia |
Services | Psychology, psychiatry, therapy, nutrition and general health care |
Methods | In-person, online and over the phone |
Board Chair | Lisa Paul AO PSM |
CEO | Jason Trethowan |
Parent organisation | Department of Health and Aged Care |
Revenue (2023) | A$74.6 million |
Expenses (2023) | A$81.2 million |
Website | headspace |
headspace, formally the headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation, is an Australian non-profit organisation for youth mental health established by the Australian Government in 2006. [1] The project is funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care under the Youth Mental Health Initiative Program, and indirectly supported through the Better Access Scheme.
headspace delivers support to young people aged from 12 to 25 years to reduce the impact of depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol and drug use, and to improve relationship issues associated with sexuality, sexual health, families, and bullying. Young people and their families can get support at a headspace centre as well as online and telephone support service, eheadspace. [2] [3] Many hospitals, especially in metropolitan areas, refer patients that are not a current threat to themselves or others to headspace for longer-term mental health care.
headspace has more than 156 centres across Australia which can be accessed for free or at low cost. [4] Staff include doctors, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, nurses, youth workers, peer workers, counselors and alcohol and drug workers. [5] [6] headspace can help with psychotherapy, counselling, education and employment services, as well as drug and alcohol issues. [7] In some centres, headspace can also provide general health services such as nutritionists and GPs. headspace centre locations can be found on the headspace website.
headspace National runs the National Youth Reference Group and local centres run Youth Advisory Groups (sometimes called: Young Peoples Advisory Council, Youth Advisory Council, Youth Advisory Committee, or Youth Reference Group) that involve young people, typically with a lived experience of mental illness, providing assistance to the national strategy of headspace, and, on a local level, centre management and community engagement events. [8]
eheadspace is confidential and free space where a young person can call, chat or email with a qualified youth mental health professional. Unlike Lifeline or Kids Helpline, eheadspace is not an emergency or crisis service. eheadspace is available 9am – 1am (Melbourne time), 7 days a week. [9] [10]
headspace School Support ("headspace schools") is an initiative funded by the Department of Health that provides support to secondary schools affected by the suicide of a student. [11] The initiative includes prevention programs (such as "Be You") and suicide-response services. Generally, headspace schools helps to provide support and counselling for witnesses of suicide and members of school communities, including students and staff.
The Chief Executive Officer of headspace is Jason Trethowan. [12] headspace is directed by the headspace board, chaired by Lisa Paul AO PSM . Notable roles within headspace's executive team and board include:
Ambassadors of headspace include:
In April 2024, an incident occurred in the town of Renmark in South Australia. The incident involved a presentation delivered to Year 9 students at Renmark High School by two staff from the Headspace centre in the nearby town of Berri along with a third-party presenter. The third-party presenter facilitated an hour-long presentation that was intended to focus on respectful relationships. [13]
During the presentation, the staff discussed LGBT topics in a way that students described as graphic. The main controversy, however, occurred when the speaker suggested that some people who practice bestiality identify as part of the LGBT community. Many students did not recognise the term, so enquired further, and the speaker described it as when people have sex with animals. [13] Bestiality is an indictable offence in South Australia, with maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment. [14]
The students were allegedly left unsupervised in the presentation, and parents were not consented. The students left the presentation confused and blindsided, and felt uncomfortable and disgusting during the presentation. Many students left the classroom and did not return. [13] It was reported that the students fled to the toilets to escape the presentation. [15]
Parents of the school were also outraged, with some even unenrolling their students due to the incident. One parent stated that the presentation was actually a "huge disservice" to the LGBT community. [13] LGBT advocates also criticised the presentation, referring to the inclusion of zoophiles within the LGBT community as a "slur". [13]
Renmark High School's principal, Mat Evans, sent out a letter to parents following the incident, saying the school's normal procedure for notifying parents was not followed and that the presentation was meant to discuss respectful relationships. The third-party presenter has since been banned from all government schools in South Australia. The state's Department for Education issued a similar statement to the school, with chief executive Martin Westwell describing the presentation as "disgusting" and stated that it "shouldn't have happened". [13]
Headspace stated that the organisation had heard concerns from the Renmark and Berri communities, both traditionally conservative rural towns, and that it was providing support to members of the community in need of support. [13]
A gay–straight alliance, gender-sexuality alliance (GSA) or queer–straight alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organization, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United States and Canada. Gay–straight alliance is intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all LGBTQ+ individuals, children, teenagers, and youth as well as their cisgender heterosexual allies. The first GSAs were established in the 1980s. Scientific studies show that GSAs have positive academic, health, and social impacts on schoolchildren of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Numerous judicial decisions in United States federal and state court jurisdictions have upheld the establishment of GSAs in schools, and the right to use that name for them.
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.
Beyond Blue is an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation. They provide support programs to address issues related to depression, suicide, anxiety disorders and other related mental illnesses.
The TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University was a national mental health and suicide risk screening initiative for middle- and high-school age adolescents. On November 15, 2012, according to its website, the program was terminated. The organization operated as a center in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Columbia University, in New York City. The program was developed at Columbia University in 1999, and launched nationally in 2003. Screening was voluntary and offered through doctors' offices, schools, clinics, juvenile justice facilities, and other youth-serving organizations and settings. As of August 2011, the program had more than 2,000 active screening sites across 46 states in the United States, and in other countries including Australia, Brazil, India and New Zealand.
ReachOut.com is an internet service for young Australians that provides information, support and resources about mental health issues and enable them to develop resilience, increase coping skills, and facilitate help-seeking behaviour. The site contains information about issues affecting young people in the form of fact sheets, stories, podcasts and online forums.
Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Youth suicide attempts are more common among girls, but adolescent males are the ones who usually carry out suicide. Suicide rates in youths have nearly tripled between the 1960s and 1980s. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.
Timeline of events related to sexual orientation and medicine
Research has found that attempted suicide rates and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are significantly higher than among the general population.
Patrick Dennistoun McGorry is an Irish-born Australian psychiatrist known for his development of the early intervention services for emerging mental disorders in young people.
Historically speaking, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have not been given equal treatment and rights by both governmental actions and society's general opinion. Much of the intolerance for LGBT individuals come from lack of education around the LGBT community, and contributes to the stigma that results in same-sex marriage being legal in few countries (31) and persistence of discrimination, such as in the workplace.
Helen Christensen (AO) is the Scientia Professor of Mental Health at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. She has been the Board Director of the Black Dog Institute since 2022. She is also a former executive director and Chief Scientist at the Institute, having led the organisation from 2011 to 2021.
Parents Action League (PAL) is a citizens organization started in 2010 to oppose changes in the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District 11 policy which limited discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in district classrooms. PAL's roots go back as far as 1994, when one of its most-vocal members, Barb Anderson, successfully influenced the school district's board to exclude homosexuality from its sex-ed curriculum.
John Francis McGrath was an Australian politician.
The suicide of Tyrone Unsworth occurred on 22 November 2016, in Brisbane, Australia. Unsworth, a 13-year-old boy, died by suicide after years of bullying motivated by his homosexuality. His death garnered considerable national attention in Australia, as well as international attention.
Wear it Purple Day is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia. Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTIQA+ community.
LGBT psychology is a field of psychology of surrounding the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals, in the particular the diverse range of psychological perspectives and experiences of these individuals. It covers different aspects such as identity development including the coming out process, parenting and family practices and support for LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as issues of prejudice and discrimination involving the LGBT community.
Due to the increased vulnerability that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth face compared to their non-LGBT peers, there are notable differences in the mental and physical health risks tied to the social interactions of LGBT youth compared to the social interactions of heterosexual youth. Youth of the LGBT community experience greater encounters with not only health risks, but also violence and bullying, due to their sexual orientation, self-identification, and lack of support from institutions in society.
Mental health in Australia has been through a significant shift in the last 50 years, with 20% of Australians experiencing one or more mental health episodes in their lifetimes. Australia runs on a mixed health care system, with both public and private health care. The public system includes a government run insurance scheme called Medicare, which aids mental health schemes. Each state within Australia has its own management plans for mental health treatment. However, the overarching system and spending remains the same.
Caitlin Ryan is a clinical social worker who is considered a pioneer in research related to LGBTQ health and mental health.