Mental health difficulties are the most common health challenges for young people. Research shows 75 per cent of mental health difficulties emerge before the age of 25. By treating these issues early and providing a holistic model of support, the risk of them developing into more serious problems is greatly reduced.
To make it as easy as possible for a young person and their family to get the help they need with problems affecting their wellbeing, headspace offers assistance in four key areas:
- mental health and wellbeing
- physical (including sexual) health
- work, school and study
- alcohol and other drugs.
headspace services are delivered via:
- the headspace website, which provides a range of mental health resources for young people and their families and friends and health professionals
- eheadspace, an online and telephone counselling service that provides confidential web chat, telephone and email support to young people, as well as their families and friends from 9am to 1am AEST, 365 days of the year. eheadspace also holds monthly online group chat sessions for young people and their families and friends to talk about particular mental health topic. To access eheadspace visit eheadspace.org.au or phone 1800 650 890
- headspace centres, which provide young people with access to a range of health workers – including doctors, psychologists, social workers, alcohol and drug workers, counsellors, vocational workers, occupational therapists and youth workers. Services are either free or have a low cost
- headspace School Support, which helps secondary schools prepare for, respond to and recover from suicide
headspace also undertakes a range of activities to increase the awareness of headspace and its services and reduce the impact of mental health stigma