Orygen-led headspace centres are now delivering GP services into secondary schools in Melbourne’s north-west as part of the Victorian Department of Education’s Doctors in Schools program.
The weekly bulk-billed GP appointments are being held at Mt Ridley College and Glenroy College.
Dr Leila Byrne, general practitioner at headspace Craigieburn, has been seeing students at Mt Ridley College and said feedback from teachers and parents had been positive.
“We have had a number of engagement activities through the school – such as sausage sizzles with the students, which has seen an increase in the number of students that have visited the clinic,” Dr Byrne said.
“Initially we saw only young people referred by teachers, but more students and parents are self-referring now – which is really great to see.
“Having Denise Poyser from headspace Craigieburn as the nurse in the clinic has also been helpful for scheduling in and triaging students prior to and after appointments, as well as assisting the school’s welfare team with mental health promotion.”
Dr Byrne said the appointments had presented a great opportunity to link students in with other relevant services within the school and with headspace.
“Given that sessions at school are quite limited, where possible I try to link students into services such as headspace if they are needing ongoing mental health support,” Dr Byrne said. “We also work with referral pathways as needed to other physical health care services, alcohol and other drugs, or options for counselling within the school or private providers.”
While headspace Craigieburn is delivering GP services to Mt Ridley College, Dr Nate Reid and nurse Alison Langstone from headspace Glenroy are supporting Glenroy College.
Though Orygen has only been involved in the program since term 1 of 2018, Dr Byrne says she has already seen the benefits of having a clinic within the school.
“Not only has it made it easier for students to see a doctor, but we have also found that we are engaging with students that we might not have done so before,” Dr Byrne said.
“Plus it reduces the pressure on parents to take young people to a doctor out of school hours,” she said. “But most importantly it helps us identify and address any health problems early."
“Ideally, I would love to see the Doctors in Schools program expanded state, even Australia wide.”