On 25 November 2015, two representatives from the Youth Media Team – Isabel and Lizzie – met with Seija from headspace Canberra and asked her a few questions about the service and her experience of working in schools.
About headspace
headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, provides early to moderate intervention to young people aged 12-25. The organisation deals with most mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. Support can be found through three different avenues – headspace centres, eheadspace, or school support.
headspace centres can be found all across Australia, both in urban and rural areas. The centres are designed to help young people with both mental and physical health, and provide access to various types of health workers, from general practitioners to psychologists.
eheadspace is intended for people who don’t have a nearby headspace centre or prefer to do it more anonymously – the online service works to provide confidential support to anyone who accesses the site, and allows people to chat with others who are experiencing similar things. The school support initiative works in schools for help respond to and recover from events of suicide.
headspace also runs a Youth Early Psychosis program, which deals with early intervention and aims to improve the lives of people dealing with psychosis, and programs dealing with alcohol and drugs. This service is dedicated to helping support people who are struggling from all types of health issues, and expresses a genuine desire to help young people recover from bad places, no matter how small or trivial the problem seems to be.
Equity in Education for the ACT 