Priority 1- Early Intervention Youth Mental Health Service Program
Youth mental health services…at the moment there’s no access to services at all – previously there was a six month waiting list – so the notion of early intervention or prevention doesn’t exist for this community.
Bunbury Forum, Western Australia, Submission #8, Not For Service, p. 165
Despite the seriousness of the disorders, there is no philosophical or legal framework supporting a more assertive or early intervention approach, nor the funding capacity to support such a model. Indeed, such an endeavour is still impeded by a residual moral dimension to understanding these disorders. The clinical focus is typically on advanced phases of disorder (even in young people) where treatment can no longer be withheld, yet when it may be much less effective.
Professor Pat McGorry, Victoria, Submission #180, Not For Service, p. 164
It is Time for Service for young people with a mental illness.
Mental illness is a problem which affects you when you are young. Around 14% of 12-17 year olds and 27% of 18-25 year olds experience mental illness in any given year. At least one third of young people have had an episode of mental illness by the age of 25 years8.
This generation is the future of our country – the students, the workforce, the taxpayers and the parents, yet there is almost no investment in services for them. The odds on this group becoming full participants in our society are heavily stacked against them.
The Commonwealth has invested approximately $50m in establishing the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, not to provide services but to establish links between service organisations. These organisations now require funds in order to address this critical service gap.
Time for Service calls for the establishment of 30 Youth Mental Health Services across Australia designed specifically to provide early intervention services for people aged between 12 and 25 years.
These services would link with the Foundation and be located in metropolitan, rural and remote areas. The services offered will have a particular emphasis on the early stages of mental disorder, particularly when problems co-exist with the early stages of substance abuse.
These services could be run by government or non-government providers and would be resourced to engage health professionals and apply the type of service methodology being developed by the Foundation.
A significant issue in mental health, particularly for young people, is poor coordination between drug and alcohol services and mental health services, and that both types of services are poorly funded. Australia needs a new model of drug and alcohol and mental health service that ensures people with complex needs receive proper care from a well resourced cross-disciplinary care team.
Expenditure Required: Yr 1 $300m, then $150m per annum.