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

Appendix B
Figure B3 describes the proportion of youth population covered by each round. From Round 1 to 5,
each round covered more than an additional 10% of the youth population by providing headspace
centres within SA3s/ SA4s.
Figure B3 Additional proportion youth population covered by round
Figure B2, Figure B3 describe the growth of the headspace program by proportion of the youth
population covered by round and additional proportion of youth population covered by round.
However, as shown in Table B1 there have not been an equal number of centres in each round (e.g.
10 centres in Round 1, 20 centres in Round 2, and only 5 centres planned in round 8). Therefore, in
Figure B4 the number of young people with access is described per centre. This analysis takes into
account the variation in number of centres allocated per round.
Figure B4 Average number of young people with access to a headspace centre by round
The earliest rounds of headspace centre allocation were less structured than the current model of
centre allocation, but since Round 3, there has been a steady decline in the number of young people
with access per centre, from over 50,000 young people per centre to 22,000 per centre in Round 7.
This process of diminishing returns is consistent with the logic of the centre allocation model which is
based on weighted youth population. Service capacity is determined by a number of factors including
the definition of access used in the centre allocation formula. While there are insufficient data to
determine the service capacity for a single headspace centre, or to estimate the optimal number of
young people per headspace centre catchment area, issues relating to service capacity and access
definitions are discussed in detail in the following chapter.
Round 8 sites were not allocated based on weighted youth population alone. As a result, some areas
with lower youth population were assigned headspace centres in this round ahead of more highly
populated regions. Based on the planned centre locations, Round 8 would provide access to 8,900
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