ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to headspace Wagga. I am delighted to be back in Wagga and to be at the new premises which was only opened a few months ago. headspace Wagga has been operating in the Riverina since 2008, providing vital support and care to young people in the heart of their communities. The demand here in the regions has been growing, which is why headspace here was successful in securing more than $935,000 to expand to the new location here in Peter Street. Since 2008 we've seen more than 10,000 occasions of service, this year more than 1,200 young people trusting headspace for the support and care that they need right here in the centre of Wagga Wagga.
For those of you who are familiar with headspace, we're expanding and strengthening the headspace network across the country. As part of our $1 billion election commitment to strengthen the mental health and wellbeing in Australians, there's an additional boost of $200 million to the headspace network to strengthen or expand more than 50 headspaces, including 30 becoming headspace Pluses. This is a new model of care designed to meet the missing middle, the more complex needs that young people are experiencing earlier in life that can benefit from wraparound support and care.
I'm really quite proud to let your community know that headspace Wagga will be one of 30 that are uplifted to a headspace Plus, and that will make a really big difference to the resources and the support that headspace can provide right here in this community.
We know that young people today are most likely – of all Australians, the most likely to experience mental health distress. And a recent report showed that 1 in 3 young people experience anxiety in any given year. There's lots of different drivers of that distress, and we know, to meet the changing needs of young people today, that headspace must also change and respond to that need. And part of that is the review of headspace and including the investment in headspace Plus. And also nationally, the first 20 youth specialist centres, which will, again. look at providing that more complex wraparound support and care to meet the growing needs of young people today.
I want to thank Shannon, the manager here of headspace Wagga, for the work they do in this local community. They have been trusted since 2008 with care and support for young people in this community. So much so that I even heard today from Shane that a local aged care home, which provides support to headspace here, and has made such a difference this centre.
I would also like to thank Stewart and the provider Relationships Australia, through the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network. It's through the strong commissioning process and the partners that we have providing headspace that young people can get the support and care that they need.
I might hand over to Shannon, who might like to say a few words, or Stewart first.
STEWART GORDON, MURRUMBIDGEE PRIMARY HEALTH NETWORK CEO: I'm going to need to say a few words real quickly.
MCBRIDE: Okay, Stewart’s promised to be quick.
[Laughter]
GORDON: I will be quick. I'd just like to warmly welcome Minister McBride to another cold day here in Wagga. It's absolutely delightful to hear of the additional investment coming to our headspace here in Wagga, and we know it's going to make such a difference to the young people in our community. So, thank you so much.
JOURNALIST: How important is primary care in the mental health space?
GORDON: Primary care is absolutely important. It’s going to [indistinct] really good care community [indistinct] …
SHANNON YATES, HEADSPACE WAGGA WAGGA MANAGER: I'd also like to thank Minister McBride for coming to headspace Wagga today. The announcement of headspace Wagga becoming a headspace Plus centre is very exciting for us. We really love being able to provide support to the young people of Wagga, and becoming a headspace Plus centre will ensure that we can continue to provide a high level of service but extend on those wraparound services that we know are so important to supporting young people. So, thank you again.
JOURNALIST: Shannon, you've all touched on these wraparound services. What do these actually look like?
YATES: So, in addition to extending on the mental health services that we provide, targeting a number of mental health conditions, it means we can also extend on providing vocational support, work and study support, physical health support, drug and alcohol support. All of these services we know are so important for young people for their holistic well-being. So, yeah.
JOURNALIST: Absolutely. And we've kind of heard about the difference that it's made so far. As the manager, what are you seeing on the ground?
YATES: Yeah, absolutely. So, we are seeing an increasing amount of young people accessing our service and, at times, the presentations are more complex and longstanding needs. And us being able to better target and support those young people in the future I think will go a long way to young people having better outcomes.
JOURNALIST: In our regional towns what are some of the unique challenges that young people are facing?
YATES: Of course, access to services are really difficult. Minister McBride did talk about that missing middle and that's something in mental health we've known about for quite a while. So, us being able to start to target that missing middle where services just don't quite have the resources needed to support those young people, we’re very excited to be able to provide that support.
JOURNALIST: Does that also help with continuity of care as well so that, you know, I can imagine being re-traumatised by telling the story over and over again?
YATES: Absolutely. In mental health, our work to provide support to young people that's going to have a long-lasting positive impact on their life is so important, and the continuity of care goes a lot towards young people having a good outcome. So, yeah, continuity of care is very important.
JOURNALIST: What about the acknowledgement from the federal government of that lack of those middle support services?
YATES: Yeah, the acknowledgement from the federal government is important and so vital to us being able to access the resources we need to be able to provide those services. So, we very much appreciate that acknowledgement from the federal government.
JOURNALIST: And what do you reckon that'll do for future outcomes of mental health support?
YATES: Yeah, so expanded services will absolutely increase the positive outcomes of young people, we'll be able to work with young people across, sort of, more of their presentations and for a longer period of time. So, we're really excited that positive outcomes will come for young people.
JOURNALIST: And can I just grab your surname? I didn't catch it.
YATES: Yep, Yates, Y-A-T-E-S.
JOURNALIST: Thanks.
JOURNALIST: For the Minister.
MCBRIDE: Sure.
JOURNALIST: In regional areas, why is it so important that regional areas aren't neglected in particularly big funding boosts and service providers?
MCBRIDE: It is absolutely vital. I'm a pharmacist myself that comes from a regional community and worked in acute mental health inpatient services. For too long it's been far too difficult for young people to be able to access support and care close to home and affordably. That's why we've made sure that, as part of the expansion and strengthening of headspace and the introduction of headspace Plus centres, that young people in regional communities will be able to benefit from that.
We also know that there's unique pressures that young people face in the outer suburbs and the regions. Whether that's about, as Shannon has spoken, about vocation, life and study, about their physical health as much as their mental health. And to be able to bring all of that together for free in a headspace Plus, which this Wagga Centre will become, will make such a real difference to young people in the regions.
JOURNALIST: In a place like Wagga where we've got the base hospital, it's an area where so many people travel to get their care, why is it so important to have all the services available here ready?
MCBRIDE: It's really vital, because we that access to timely care makes such a big difference. As I mentioned, and people would know from their own experience in their own community, that the increase in mental health distress and suicidal ideation in young people has increased. There's lots of pressures which have driven that – the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic, education, work, housing, so many pressures that can impact young people at a really transitional time in their life between 12 and 25.
So, having this big boost in funding, which means more wraparound support available in one spot, will make such a big difference in timely access to care – affordably, and closer to home.
JOURNALIST: Are there plans for more investment in mental health care for regional community mental health?
MCBRIDE: It's something that is absolutely front of mind for me as a regional MP and someone with my own mental health professional background. We know that for far too long young people or all Australians in the outer suburbs or the regions haven't been able to access care when they need it.
Later this morning we'll be going to the new Medicare Mental Health Centre here. And I'm pleased to let you know that is now expanding their hours of operation, so it will be open until 7 o'clock on Thursday night and 9.00 until 1.00 on the weekends so that more people can access that support and care.
So, headspace Plus, in addition to our Medicare and Mental Health Centres, which is for adults, providing free walk-in support and care for people in regional centres, we're so proud to be able to make this investment and to support people living in the regions.
JOURNALIST: What was the consultation like around these announcements? Were you speaking with the headspace people? What's it been like over the last few years?
MCBRIDE: This is something that's absolutely vital. We know that thorough consultation and proper co-design are what leads to the success of the introduction of programs and also the expansion of existing programs Every headspace centre in Australia, and there's more than 170, has a youth reference group. So, young people are involved not just in the design and in the planning, but in the day-to-day support that headspace provides.
Our government has set up now 2 peak bodies to raise the voice of people with their own lived experience – one for people with their own personal experience, and one for family and kin. Because we know that having that voice of personal experience is so critical in making sure that as new services are designed and rolled out, that they do meet the needs of people today - that they're compassionate, that they're centred on the person and their wraparound needs.
