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

Appendix B
Centre expansion analysis and proposals for national coverage
This appendix contains the centre expansion and national coverage analysis conducted for the
evaluation of headspace. This analysis was conducted to answer two key research questions:
• What is the overall cost-effectiveness of expanding headspace beyond 100 centres?
• What is the estimated funding requirements for headspace to achieve national coverage?
The analysis presented in this appendix draws on the following methodological and design features:
• The analyses consider the costs and effects of headspace services in different geographical
locations and the current geographic and demographic coverage of headspace.
• The main metric used in considering the effects of headspace expansion is the current and
potential youth coverage of headspace.
• The costs of national coverage are estimated using the current costing mechanisms for the
establishment of headspace sites based on headspace grant funds and an estimate of MBS
expenses.
• Cost-effectiveness is defined as the costs per young person with access to headspace
centre services under the access definition provided by the current allocation model.
Based on the data available, the analyses presented herein highlights some apparent limitations of
the current funding model and invites further discussion of the current centre funding model.
The evaluation of the effectiveness of the current centre allocation model to provide access to
headspace services, uses available data to describe youth access to headspace centres and
proposes alternative measures of usage and demand. This analysis adds breadth to discussion of
what the ‘effects’ of headspace centre expansion are.
The discussion of alternative models of national coverage, proposes several other models of centre
allocation for consideration. While these models do not provide an optimal formula for centre
allocation, they propose alternative definitions of access and methods of allocation of centres for
further consideration. Costing these models is outside the scope of this evaluation, and given the
concerns with the current centre funding model raised in Part One, it is not appropriate to extrapolate
costs from the current model to further sites which use a different allocation formula.
As the funder of headspace, the Department of Health (DoH) aims to provide access to headspace
services for as many young people as possible across Australia. In order to achieve this, a number
of innovative approaches to access have been implemented in addition to the establishment of new
centres. These include outreach programs, eheadspace and school services. These services are
outside the scope of this evaluation, which focuses on expansion of the centre model.
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