Sixteen years of innovation in youth mental healthcare: Outcomes for young people attending Australia’s headspace centre services

Abstract

Australia’s headspace initiative is world-leading in nation-wide youth mental healthcare reform for young people aged 12 to 25 years, now with 16 years of implementation. This paper examines changes in the key outcomes of psychological distress, psychosocial functioning, and quality of life for young people accessing headspace centres across Australia for mental health problems. Routinely collected data from headspace clients commencing an episode of care within the data collection period, 1 April 2019 to 30 March 2020, and at 90-day follow-up were analysed. Participants came from the 108 fully-established headspace centres across Australia, and comprised 58,233 young people aged 12–25 years first accessing headspace centres for mental health problems during the data collection period. Main outcome measures were self-reported psychological distress and quality of life, and clinician-reported social and occupational functioning. Most headspace mental health clients presented with depression and anxiety issues (75.21%). There were 35.27% with a diagnosis: overall, 21.74% diagnosed with anxiety, 18.51% with depression, and 8.60% were sub-syndromal. Younger males were more likely to present for anger issues. Cognitive behavioural therapy was the most common treatment. There were significant improvements in all outcome scores over time (P<0.001). From presentation to last service rating, over one-third had significant improvements in psychological distress and a similar proportion in psychosocial functioning; just under half improved in self-reported quality of life. Significant improvement on any of the three outcomes was shown for 70.96% of headspace mental health clients. After 16 years of headspace implementation, positive outcomes are being achieved, particularly when multi-dimensional outcomes are considered. A suite of outcomes that capture meaningful change for young people’s quality of life, distress and functioning, is critical for early intervention, primary care settings with diverse client presentations, such as the headspace youth mental healthcare initiative.

Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres

“… 19 – 22 The organisations headspace Australia and Jigsaw Ireland have published outcome evaluation analyses, comparing first and last visit data. 19 – 21 Among young people who sought support from headspace Australia, 29.9% improved reliably (37.8% clinically significantly) in terms of social and occupational functioning, and 24.5% improved reliably (22.4% clinically significantly) regarding psychological distress. 21 Jigsaw Ireland reported that 62% of the young people who used their service improved clinically significantly and reliably with regard to psychological distress.…”

“… 19 – 21 Among young people who sought support from headspace Australia, 29.9% improved reliably (37.8% clinically significantly) in terms of social and occupational functioning, and 24.5% improved reliably (22.4% clinically significantly) regarding psychological distress. 21 Jigsaw Ireland reported that 62% of the young people who used their service improved clinically significantly and reliably with regard to psychological distress. 19 Furthermore, Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services (YIACS) across England reported that 52.2% improved reliably and 29.4% clinically significantly with regard to psychological distress (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10 [CORE-10]), which was 37.2% and 36.4%, respectively, for the Young Person's CORE (YP-CORE).…”

“… 22 Moreover, headspace Australia and Jigsaw Ireland often provided cognitive–behavioural therapy-based interventions. 19 , 21 In contrast, @ease does not provide protocol-based or a number of treatment sessions with the same counsellor. Instead, the trained age-peer counsellors who are available at that moment actively listen to young people who can visit once or decide to return later.…”

Ensuring continuity of care for young people transitioning to adult mental health services: issues faced and promising approaches

“…Headspace services provide holistic support for young people aged between 12 and 25 years, encompassing mental, physical and sexual health. They also provide support on drugs and alcohol and for issues relating to employment and education (Rickwood et al, 2023). Evaluations of these services have indicated that the majority of young people access the service for support with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that around a third show significant improvements in psychological distress and psychosocial functioning (Rickwood et al, 2015).…”

“…Evaluations of these services have indicated that the majority of young people access the service for support with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that around a third show significant improvements in psychological distress and psychosocial functioning (Rickwood et al, 2015). Just over two-thirds of service users show significant improvements in either psychological distress, psychosocial functioning or self-reported quality of life (Rickwood et al, 2023).…”