Headspace
The Kimberley Division of General Practice (KDGP) has received funding from the Department of Health and Ageing to employ two Youth Mental Health Initiative (YMHI) workers based at the headspace Kimberley site in Hamersley Street Broome.
headspace Kimberley is a national initiative to promote and facilitate improvements in the mental health, social wellbeing and economic participation of young Australians aged 12-25. headspace Kimberley is a community of youth services (CYS), where services are collocated in a youth friendly space to improve access for young people.
The YMHI staff are part of this community of youth services and predominantly work with young people, in an early intervention service delivery model, who may have a diagnosed mental health disorder, or may be at risk of developing a mental health disorder.
The YMHI workers focus on providing initial screening as well as assisting young people access appropriate services either within the Community of Youth Services or external agencies. YMHI workers may provide brief and short-term focused psycho-social clinical intervention to this target group. This includes developing and delivering therapeutic group work and targeted skills training to assist young people to better manage their mental health, or drug and alcohol concerns.
Who May Refer
Young people can refer themselves or can be referred via family or other services. headspace Kimberley involvement is a voluntary and consensual process for all young people. Where the referral is not from a GP, the headspace Kimberley treatment model will attempt to gain consent for GP clinical engagement, and will work towards ensuring that clients understand the value of GP involvement in their overall clinical care.