Policy Reports

Policy Reports

Policy Reports

  • Position statement responding to the Australian Government’s Productivity Commission

    Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, welcomes the Productivity
    Commission’s inquiry into ‘the role of mental health in supporting economic participation and enhancing productivity and economic growth’.

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  • Trauma and young people

    Orygen, the National Centre for Excellence in Youth Mental Health has released a major report that shows Australian mental health services lack the capability and capacity to respond to the needs of young people affected by trauma.

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    Download Appendix 1

  • Keeping it real

    Orygen, the National Centre for Excellence in Youth Mental Health has released a major report revealing that young men are continuing to fall through the cracks of our mental health system.

    Titled ‘Keeping it Real: Reimagining mental health care for all young men’, the report finds that although young males are almost three times as likely to die by suicide as young Australian females, only a small proportion of young men are accessing services, or receiving appropriate treatment for their mental ill-health.

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  • Under the Radar

    Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health has released a major report that shows that while Australia provides world-class education and is an international leader in youth mental health, the mental health of university students has been largely ignored.

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  • Raising the bar

    Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health has released a major report that shows that despite 20 years of suicide prevention strategies and investment by all levels of government, suicide rates among Australian young people are increasing. The report calls for a reinvigorated suicide prevention response that specifically responds to the needs and experiences of young people.

    Titled ‘Raising the bar for youth suicide prevention’, the report is a culmination of an extensive program of work conducted throughout 2016 by Orygen in consultation with the Australian youth mental health and suicide prevention sectors and in partnership with young people themselves.

    Also available Appendix 1 - Evidence summary and Appendix 2 - Youth consultation report.

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    Download Appendix 1

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  • Draft Youth Psychosocial support packages model of service

    Orygen welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Western Australia Mental Health Commission’s draft Youth Psychosocial Support Packages Model of Service.

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  • Commissioning and youth mental health

    The Australian Government has released a new mental health policy in response to the National Mental Health Commission’s review of mental health programmes and services. The policy gives the 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs), established by the Australian Government responsibility for planning mental health services. For young people, headspace services will be integrated with broader youth services at a regional level.

    Orygen has prepared this policy brief to explore this change in commissioning model and how it could work to ensure the highest quality mental health services for young people.

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  • Addressing workforce challenges

    A major issue to be addressed underpinning the implementation of national youth mental health policy is the current and projected nationwide skills shortage in the mental health sector. This skills shortage relates to both a fundamental undersupply of mental health professionals in all key disciplines and a pressing need to update knowledge, culture and practice in the mental health workforce. This report analyses these workforce challenges and makes recommendations to support a national strategy and framework for workforce development in the youth mental health sector.

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  • Tell them they're dreaming

    Through the whole course of illness, the number one goal that people have is to get back to work or to complete their education and training. Despite this great desire of people with severe mental illness to get back into the workforce they remain the group who are the most marginalised.

    This comprehensive report examines labour market outcomes, educational attainment and employment services for job seekers and makes key recommendations to assist young Australians with mental illness realise their employment and educational dreams.

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  • The economic impact

    Nearly a quarter of young people in Australia people aged 12-25 have concerns relating to their mental health. Australia faces substantial costs arising from mental illness in young people. In 2009, the financial cost of mental illness in people aged 12-25 was $10.6 billion. This Access Economics report analyses the financial impact of mental ill-health on the Australian economy and the flow-on effects of this cost.

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