Professor Patrick McGorry’s enormous contribution to the establishment and growth of headspace has been recognised by being appointed the inaugural Patron of the youth mental health organisation.
The announcement comes as his 14-year tenure on the headspace board comes to an end this year.
As Executive Director of Orygen, Prof. McGorry was the driving force behind headspace when he led the successful bid on behalf of Orygen, University of Melbourne, APS and BMRI/University of Sydney, to design the world-first mental health model.
Prof. McGorry oversaw the establishment of the first ten centres in 2007, with 20 more locations announced by the Federal Government by the end of that year. By 2010, 30 headspace centres were operating across the nation.
Today, headspace supports young people through services in 154 communities across Australia, and the model has been implemented overseas in countries including Denmark, Israel, Netherlands, and Iceland.
Prof. McGorry said he was “honoured and privileged” to have played a role in headspace’s genesis and development.
“headspace has been a huge team effort involving a small group of true believers (the headspace consortium) at first, a much larger army of true believers as we grew, and cohorts of uniquely dedicated staff and leaders at headspace national as well as across our amazing family of centres over nearly two decades,” he said.
“We have found common purpose with some visionary and sympathetic political leaders, with energetic pioneers and allies in many other countries, with my colleagues at Orygen, who have also played a vital role in the establishment and re-fuelling of headspace, and of course with a series of cohorts of inspirational young people and families.”
Prof. McGorry remains executive director of Orygen, which operates five headspace centres in Melbourne’s north-west at Werribee, Sunshine, Glenroy, Craigieburn and Melton.