Ballarat youth mental health forum demands federal funding to close care gap
Ballarat wants federal funding for youth mental health centres serving complex cases that fall between routine and emergency care.
Ballarat held a youth mental health forum on Monday where health leaders, doctors and community members confronted a crisis they call the missing middle. Young people whose mental health needs are too complex for routine services like Headspace but not severe enough for acute psychiatric care fall through the gap.
Georgia Harraway-Jones had anorexia as a teenager. When she finally sought help at 18, she waited 12 weeks for a psychologist, 10 weeks for another, three months for a dietitian and four months for a psychiatrist.
Her condition worsened. She was admitted to a private hospital in Geelong, far from her family and friends.
The Grampians region now sees one-third of all mental health emergency presentations from young people, 2.6 times more than four years ago. The forum is asking the federal government to make Ballarat a priority site for its planned Youth Specialist Care Centres.
- 12 weeks
- Psychologist wait
- 4 months
- Psychiatrist wait
- 2.6 times more than four years ago
- Emergency presentation increase
- Ballarat
- Forum location
Why it mattersYoung people with complex mental needs often wait months for help or end up in emergency departments, affecting their recovery and long-term outcomes.
AustraliaThe same gap exists across regional Australia; early funding for Ballarat could create a model other regions desperately need.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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