Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's been 12 months since Katoomba's headspace opened, for the first time providing easier access for young people in the upper mountains to ask for help. But its establishment has come at a time when record numbers of people, young and old, are reaching out.

The team has worked incredibly hard. They won't say it, but I can say that the initial funding for the satellite service simply couldn't cater to the need—especially when a very high proportion of kids reported suicidal ideation and self-harm. Headspace worked closely with other local services to try to meet the need. As a senior clinician said, 'We knew there was a high demand for a service,' yet it still took seven years for the Liberals to provide it.

Headspace is primarily an early intervention service, but by the time kids turn up their needs are often much greater. Until we have initiatives from the government to increase the affordability and availability of psychology, counselling and psychiatry services it's going to be an uphill battle. And we still don't have a headspace in the Hawkesbury, where we also know there is a very high demand for a service. As more than a thousand people have said to me, it's hard to get help at the best of times let alone in these times. I'm not alone in begging the minister for health: please announce a headspace for the Hawkesbury.

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