Where is our youth’s headspace at?
Australia’s healthcare service is among the most highly regarded systems in the world. Despite this standing, however, reviews of the mental health system belie systemic flaws (Murray, 2019; State of Victoria, 2021). To alleviate pressure on the already overstretched public system, Australia funds non-government organisations (NGOs) like Headspace to provide services and support to targeted areas of concern (McGorry et al., 2019). This paper will investigate the utility of Headspace as a body servicing the mental health requirements of young Australians aged twelve to twenty-five (McGorry et al., 2019).
In 2016 Australia ranked 11th out of 36 OECD countries for total health expenditure and increased from 18th to 9th in health expenditure to GDP ratio from 2010 to 2016 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). Despite Australia’s comparatively high upward spending trend, the health system has suffered from increasing elective surgery wait times, low patient satisfaction and an increasingly overwhelmed public mental health system (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018).
The 2021 Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health system reflects an even greater endemic flaw and deficiencies in the mental health care system (State of Victoria, 2021). The Royal Commission (State of Victoria, 2021) highlighted systemic catastrophic failures referencing quantitative health data and the lived experiences of mental health patients. Ingrained accessibility issues and a stigma among many health professionals toward parents and children trying to navigate the conundrum of systems were identified as major causes of concern. This was alarming, considering statistically that only half of the children were considered very high risk and will go on to continue to access support (Butterworth et al., 2021; State of Victoria, 2021). Furthermore, the system was revealed to be grossly inadequate to meet demand. These systemic issues have contributed to lengthy wait periods and even the denial of treatment to psychologically distressed patients. An overrun system that is not caring for our children is driving people away and causing them to ignore their problems due to a lack of understanding and an uneducated approach to a large growing problem that needs to be addressed.