Is headspace making a difference to young people’s lives?

5. Service Delivery Model
I don’t know enough about [headspace] or what they do (Survey Response No. 103)
I don’t know how to [refer to headspace]. Phone calls haven’t been helpful (Survey Response
No. 102)
A larger group of GPs were critical of headspace services and/or reported unsatisfactory responses
from the service:
The service is too far away and run in an incompetent and substandard manner (Survey
Response No. 88)
I didn’t get any response from my one and only referral. Good patient outcomes rely on
effective communication and collaboration (Survey Response No. 154)
Integration with mainstream is not very good. Sometimes difficult to get [headspace]
appointments. Feedback [from headspace] is sporadic (Survey Response No. 28)
I have not had much success in getting patients accepted [to headspace]. I have found it
easier if patients self-refer, OR if I refer elsewhere for quicker and more effective service
(Survey Response No. 112)
So far I have not had much support from this organisation in managing young people
(Survey Response No. 89)
Better liaison with other providers (Survey Response No. 37)
Impression that referral is easy and swift [but] rarely does this happen. Different to referring
to other private psychologist or psychiatrist when reception can give a sense when client
or GP rings when the appointment will be. But [with headspace] referral goes off and client
leaves GP a bit up in the air (Survey Response No. 68)
These comments indicate that headspace needs to do more to educate general practitioners about
headspace, the services it can provide, and how these can be accessed. In addition, staff at some
headspace centres need to undertake activities to build genuine, collaborative relationships with local
general practitioners. This engagement should be founded on the position that general practitioners
are partners in the provision of mental health care for young people rather than mere gatekeepers to
funded treatment through headspace:
[the centre] often sees us as a means of getting access to Medicare funded psychologists
and [we] are not valued as a team member (Survey Response No. 119)
We did some clinics located in headspace. Many of the youth had their own general
practitioners. It was difficult for us to provide a GP service. We like to provide a holistic
service. headspace saw us as the mental health care plan generators. Unfortunately I like
to treat the whole patient, so there is a direct disconnect between their aims and my own.
There was too much paperwork cross-over – need for us to do our own notes as well as
headspace notes as well as potential health care plans. Many of their staff did not know
what a GP role was – called up and asked for patient results etc. I think headspace needs
to make an effort and engage their local GPs who will do a much better job at collaborating
care compared with a ring-in GP service onsite (Survey Response No. 101)
The Professional Stakeholders Survey shows that the connection between general practitioners and
centres is satisfactory in some locations. Fifty-six per cent of GPs surveyed (n=24/43) had referred
young people to headspace, although only a little more than a third (n=15/43, 35%) reported that they
would refer a young person with an emerging mental health problem to headspace in preference
to another youth mental health provider. Open-ended explanations provided by some respondents
indicate, however, that the preference to refer to headspace is more to do with the quality and
accessibility of the service rather than any direct relationship between the GP and the centre:
Only youth mental health provider I know (Survey Response No. 94)
headspace more likely to have service in young person’s geographic area (Survey Response
No. 100)
Because it is accessible and no out of pocket expense (Survey Response No. 110)
As it is predominantly for that particular age group with specialised services (Survey
Response No. 98)
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
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