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

5. Service Delivery Model
Figure 5.2 Proportion of headspace clients that received support from eheadspace, 2013/14
Source: Authors calculations from hCSA data.
Interview data sheds some light on young people’s usage of eheadspace; however usage among
the group of clients interviewed was considerably less than that reported above (only 3 of 50 clients
interviewed 6%). During interviews with young people, a number commented that they knew about
the eheadspace service but had not used it:
I’ve got almost no knowledge of [eheadspace] to be honest. I know that it’s there, I know that
if I feel the need to that I can use it… but I’ve never felt the need to use it (Female, 18 years)
I know what it is but I’ve never used it (Female, 23 years)
A number of young people commented that they knew about eheadspace only because they were
asked at every appointment if they had received services or support from eheadspace 27 . Three young
people described how they had used eheadspace. For one young female, eheadspace was her
pathway to centre services:
I was on eheadspace and basically they referred me here (Female, 24 years)
Two other young people spoke about using eheadspace to ‘check out’ headspace prior to attending a
centre:
I went on eheadspace and asked a few questions… When my Mum was checking out the
place the first time, I asked a few questions online sort of saying ‘what should I do about
this?’ and I got a quick reply… I was sort of making sure it’s safe, basically (Male, 20 years)
[After using eheadspace] I had that sort of sense of these people are kind of in tune with
today’s youth by the way they use the internet and everything, they weren’t sort of back
in time, writing everything down, not using computers. But yeah, it gave the impression of
they understand basically what this generation is about (Male, 17 years)
During fieldwork, only four headspace staff members (4/25) spoke about eheadspace, but they all
spoke highly of it. Those that spoke about eheadspace felt it was important for young people who
had difficulty accessing headspace sites due to transport or distance issues. It was also regarded as
an alternative mode of contact and communication with young people who were not comfortable with
the idea of face-to-face counselling.
In addition, staff described using eheadspace as a way to offer young people some support while
they were on a waiting list to access centre services.
We give out [eheadspace contact information] to every new person that comes on our
waitlist. When we get a new referral we actually ring that young person, acknowledge
27
This question is contained in the hCSA data collection.
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
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