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

6. The Costs of headspace
Figure 6.1 Main type of service provided at each visit, 2013/14 financial year
Note: Main service type is reported by the service provider for each occasion of service. Main service type has not been
reported for approximately 3.5% of occasions of service within the 2013/14 financial year. It is important to note that young
persons can receive more than one type of treatment at a particular service and that results reported relate to the main
service received.
Source:
Authors’ calculations from hCSA administrative data
While the majority of the main service types provided were for mental health, it is important not to
conclude that only two-thirds of headspace services were mental health related. This is because
consideration must be given to both the primary and secondary issue that young people were
assessed as initially presenting with. For example, of the 122,125 (63%) mental health occasions
of service provided at centres within the 2013/14 financial year, approximately 80% were provided
to young people whose primary issue was reported to be mental health and behavioural issues
(Table 6.1). A further 12% of mental health services were provided to young people whose primary
presenting issue was reported to be situational problems. The majority of engagement and
assessment type services were also for those young people whose primary presenting issue was
mental health and behavioural (79.5%), followed by situational problems (12.1%).
Table 6.2 below, which compares young people’s primary presenting issue with their secondary
presenting issue, shows the complexity and interaction of issues addressed by staff at headspace
centres. Of those occasions of service where a young person presented with a primary issue
recorded as mental health and behavioural, 17.4% also had a secondary issue related to situational
problems such as conflict in the home, bullying at school or were at risk of becoming homeless.
Further, many occasions of service were provided to young people whose primary presenting issue
was not recorded as mental health and behavioural, but whose secondary issue was identified as
such. For example, of the total 93,584 occasions of service where the secondary presenting issue
was recorded as mental health and behavioural, only 17,623 services did not have mental health and
behavioural as the primary presenting issue. As indicated in some of the qualitative data presented
earlier, this shows the interaction between mental health and other problems for young people.
The administrative data (hCSA) shows that a young person visiting headspace for treatment
(which constitutes on average 5 occasions of service) can receive any number of combinations of
services and present with varying primary and secondary issues over the course of their headspace
treatment, with the services all working together to improve the emotional, social and mental
wellbeing of the young person.
Given this analysis, and taking into account the overarching and holistic goals of the headspace
service model, all headspace occasions of service are considered to be either directly or indirectly
related to the overall wellbeing of young people in terms of their emotional, social and mental health.
Within the 2013/14 financial year, headspace centres across Australia delivered 194,968 occasions of
service and all of these are considered to be in-scope for the cost per unit estimate.
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
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