The youth mental health foundation – which provides intervention mental health services to 12-25 year olds – is searching for parents and carers to form a reference group to help create better health outcomes for young people.

The group’s first meeting will be held on Friday from 4pm-5pm at the organisation’s Elgin Street headquarters. 

Local clinical and service integration manager Felicity Scott said the friends and families reference group aims to ensure that headspace’s services are as youth friendly and as accessible to everyone as much as possible. 

“We know young people who access the centre The adults in the young person’s life are the expert so we need to hear their voice and what’s going to be helpful in terms of what services we offer,” Ms Scott said.

“But also we need parents to be advocating for mental health, and spreading the word about how helpful it for the young people to access services and assistance.

“We are trying to get a group of parents [and carers] together who are happy to volunteer their time, and maybe even get some training in mental health so they can be advocates for their own young people and other parents.”

The new reference group will aim to meet once a month. 

“It’s a daunting experience for an adult to access a service so imagine what it’s like for a young person to do it,” Ms Scott said.

“We need to be as youth and family-friendly as we can. This is an opportunity for parents to get involved, and help us make a difference.”

Community awareness and engagement officer Liz Murphy-May encouraged people to sign up for the new reference group. 

“The conversation started online, and we’ve already had about six people inquire about it, but on the Facebook event we have had about 30 people interested,” she said.

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