Brief interventions in youth mental health

Meeting the needs of young people presenting with mental ill-health provides many opportunities and challenges particularly where limited resources are available.

In response to this, the headspace centres at Sunshine and Glenroy, in collaboration with Orygen's research and translation team  have produced the Brief Interventions in Youth Mental Health Toolkit (BIYMH) and a suite of resourcese to support its implementation.

The toolkit contains eight brief, evidenced-based clinical interventions for mental health workers as a means of providing appropriate and readily available treatment and care to those young people with mild-to-moderate mental health difficulties.

Timely access to care is a priority area for headspace and the evidence suggests that using this toolkit can help young people avoid the need for intensive, longer-term treatment and enjoy better mental health.

The project team, which includes Carsten Schley, Clinical Services Manager at headspace Sunshine, and his colleagues worked intensively on the toolkit with a group of dedicated young people, and together have created a truly youth-friendly, cutting-edge resource.

"We’re really proud that we’ve packaged together a range of simple interventions in a ready-to-use format which saves a lot of time for a youth mental health worker and provides a better outcome for young people."
Carsten Schley

Young people have been front and centre in the development of the toolkit and the centres using the resource have received positive feedback from young people on its effectiveness.

"I liked being able to make a big difference to myself in a short time."
Young person who used the toolkit with their mental health worker

You can download the full toolkit below. Please note this version of the document has been developed specifically for use in headspace.

Accompanying the toolkit are six videos, online training modules in particular brief interventions, a community of practice and customised training and consultation options, all of which provide further information and advice on how to get the most out of the toolkit.