Abstract:
headspace aims to improve the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of young people in Australia through the provision of evidence-based, integrated, youth-centred and holistic services. In January 2013, the Australian Government Department of Health (DoH) commissioned a consortium of researchers from the Social Policy Research Centre and the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Australia; Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University; and the Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia to evaluate the effectiveness of headspace.
The evaluation aimed to:
- examine young people’s access to and engagement with the centre-based program including the demand for services at centres and barriers and facilitators to service use
- assess the outcomes of young people who have received services from headspace to determine the effectiveness of the treatment
- assess the centre-based program’s service delivery model including aspects of the model that are most and least effective in assisting headspace to meet its objectives, and
- conduct a cost effectiveness analysis of the program as it currently operates, as well as an expanded version of the program that seeks national coverage.
This report presents the evaluation findings.