headspace welcomes today’s announcement by the Federal Government that they are investing $308.6 million to strengthen Australia’s primary care health system, including the extension of the additional MBS subsidised mental health support to December 2022, and the announcement that telehealth will become a permanent feature of primary health care.
headspace CEO, Jason Trethowan says telehealth is a way to ensure young people can access support on their help-seeking journey how it best suits them.
“Not only has telehealth enabled important services, like GPs communities and at headspace centres, to continue to deliver support to young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also opened up options for those who ordinarily wouldn’t have been able to access help or might’ve disengaged from help-seeking.
“We know young people in regional and remote areas are more likely to face greater barriers to accessing support.
“All young people should be able to access support on their help-seeking journey, no matter where they live, or what their circumstances are.”
A 2020 survey of 1200 young people accessing headspace Telehealth services showed an overwhelming majority had a positive experience (98%).
Young people said they were able to build connections with their clinician and felt comfortable talking about their personal issues in this setting.
