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

5. Service Delivery Model
connection to the government funding programs for clinical service delivery; however, three
managers (3/29) commented on the ‘uncomfortable fit’ between MBS funding and a holistic service
model. As one manager commented ‘the fact that practitioners such as private psychologists cannot
bill for case conferences with a school or GP means there is a financial imperative in conflict with
good clinical practice’. The MBS cap on psychology sessions was also described by a few managers
within interviews and the survey as incompatible with the provision of high quality care:
The limitations of the MBS model is something that we frequently get feedback about from
young people and parents who state it is not enough (Site Manager)
A notable result from the Centre Manager’s Survey is that respondents rated non-government
sources of funding such as donations as equivalent in importance to in-kind support (mean score
of 4.5 out of 5). This suggests that managers understand the need to diversify funding sources if
headspace is to develop a long-term, sustainable funding model.
5.8 To what extent are there referrals between headspace services and the broader
service system?
Young people can access headspace services through a number of informal and formal referral
sources. Further, to ensure that the young person receives appropriate treatment, headspace
clinicians can refer young people to other services within the community. This section examines
referrals into and out of headspace.
headspace allows for young people to visit a centre without any formal referral. This is an important
feature of the service model as it can facilitate earlier help seeking from young people who may be
reluctant to visit a GP simply to get a referral to headspace. Analysis indicates that many clients
make use of this service model feature. During the 2013/14 financial year, only a little more than a
quarter of headspace clients (26.4%) had a formal referral for their first visit. During fieldwork, staff
in all five sites spoke of receiving multiple referrals from other services in their local communities.
One psychologist reported that half of her referrals came from doctors at the local medical centre
as a consequence of the good connections they had built up over the years. For one site manager,
the sheer volume of referrals they received was indicative of local service providers’ awareness of
headspace.
As indicated in Table 5.1 below, the overwhelming majority of young people who attended headspace
with a formal referral received one from a primary healthcare provider such as a GP.
Table 5.1 Source of formal referral into headspace
Formal referral source
Percentage
Primary health care e.g. GP 84.0
Specialist health care e.g. psychiatrist, paediatrician, inpatient service 3.5
Community based mental health service e.g. CAMHS, AMHS 2.5
Community based allied health professional 0
School based service e.g. school psychologist, guidance counsellor 4.5
Alcohol or other drug service 0.2
Community service/welfare agency 3.1
Employment agency 0.8
Legal, justice, corrections service 1.0
eheadspace 0.3
headspace School Support staff 0.1
Source: Authors calculations from hCSA data.
Interview data also indicates that while it is frequent for young people to first attend a headspace
centre without a formal referral, if they are assessed at intake as requiring psychological services,
they are often asked to visit their own GP or one connected to the headspace centre to get a mental
health care plan so that they can access psychological treatments funded through the MBS.
As can be seen in Figure 5.5, the number of clients accessing headspace each month with a formal
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
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