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

4. Outcomes of headspace Clients
she may well have committed suicide. She spoke highly of having the opportunity to talk to people at
headspace and to learn coping strategies to help deal with her anger issues:
Certainly looking back, I don’t think I would have coped, you know, deep down I can
recognise that I was using failing Year 12 as an excuse, if you follow that. You know, I wasn’t
planning on sticking around if I failed Year 12, so it was probably a very good thing that I
found headspace. (Female, 18 years)
A 26-year-old male who first came to headspace to manage his depression and anger issues
similarly felt that the assistance he received through headspace had ‘saved’ him. He described how
learning strategies to manage his anger and experiencing fewer depressive episodes had helped turn
his life around:
If it wasn’t for headspace I would not be - I would be probably - God knows the way I would
be. I’d be probably in jail or dead or something like that. So, I’m a lot – because I used to try
and kill myself at points too. And that was the anger and the depression mixed up together
wasn’t too good. I don’t think about doing that anymore. I’m grateful for this place because I
think the best words to say is, they saved me. (Male, 26 years)
Others spoke about how attending headspace had helped them to overcome their desire to selfharm.
One young female particularly valued having the opportunity to speak with a mental health
professional who could validate her feelings and experiences and help her work through them:
There’s something about getting told ‘this is what is happening to you’ by a professional that
makes it all so much better, if that makes sense, and so I like that. Yeah, so what I’ve learnt
has really helped me in a short amount of time and I will miss coming here once my 12 weeks
is up. (Female, 24 years)
A 23-year-old woman who was homeless and pregnant when she first started attending headspace
felt that she had come a long way as a consequence of headspace. She no longer engaged in selfharm:
So I came at a time where my mental health was ridiculous and I’ve come so far, I’m a
completely different person and it’s all thanks to headspace. Just had that constant help,
it’s just helped me so much to become the person I am. I used to be addicted to cutting and
I don’t - I haven’t cut since I’ve been coming here and everything like that. They’re a great
support team who’ve always been there for me. (Female, 23 years)
Overall, of the 50 young people interviewed, all but two had experienced improvements in mental
health due to their involvement with headspace. Only one young person did not feel that his improved
mental health was attributable to headspace while another reported that she had not been attending
long enough to have experienced any improvement in her mental health.
Drug and alcohol use
Three per cent of headspace clients were identified as having problematic alcohol consumption
and/or drug use as the primary presenting issue for which they sought headspace services. This
proportion is likely to under-report substance abuse issues as the analysis identified only the primary
presenting issue recorded by headspace practitioners. As a result, the analysis does not report on
the prevalence and patterns of co-morbid conditions. It is acknowledged, however, that co-morbidity
in young people is an increasing problem and frequently involves mental health and drug and alcohol
problems (Raphael, 2000).
Only one in five young people spoke about their alcohol consumption and drug use during interviews
(n=11/50). All of these young people self-reported improved outcomes in this domain. This result is
somewhat supported by findings from the survey of headspace Centre Managers. Overall, managers
rated the headspace services provided at their centres as less effective in reducing alcohol and drug
use than improving mental health. Eight of 29 respondents rated their service as ‘very effective’ in
reducing clients’ alcohol and drug use; two respondents rated their centre as ‘neither effective nor
ineffective’ in reducing clients’ alcohol and drug use; and the majority of respondents (19) rated their
centres’ services as ‘somewhat effective’ in reducing clients’ alcohol and drug use.
Eleven young people reported different types of improvement in this domain including reductions
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
68