Innovations in the design of mental health services for young people: an Australian perspective

Abstract

Youth mental health reform has become a major growth point in mental health reform in Australia and in several other countries internationally. This is based on a growing appreciation of the epidemiological data, new knowledge of the developmental changes during the transition to adulthood, growing concern from parents and young people themselves at the neglect of their major health needs during this stage of life, and, perhaps decisively, the economic imperatives. Young people on the threshold of productive life are not realizing their full potential owing to the impact of untreated or poorly treated mental ill-health on their psychosocial, educational, and vocational development. Yet this issue, while of obvious importance to societies around the world, has only come to the fore through entrepreneurial and reform-oriented thinking within the mental health field in a number of regions of the world. Such thinking has been embraced by policymakers in some societies and by the general public; however, it has been challenged and resisted by sections of the mental health profession. It is of equal importance to understand the sociology of such a reform process as to assemble the evidence and know-how to engineer and evolve the reform itself. This paper describes our experience in conceptualizing, designing, advocating for, and guiding such reform in Australia, aspects of which have now been adopted in other jurisdictions, notably Ireland, the UK, and Canada. NR - 44 PU - DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD PI - ALBANY PA - PO BOX 300-008, ALBANY, AUCKLAND 0752, NEW ZEALAND