One of my passions as a councillor, and now mayor, is to advocate for better access to mental health and wellbeing support for young people in the inner west.
Council resolved on my notice of motion in February to ensure the first steps would be taken towards this becoming a reality.
In the months since, I am pleased to report on the significant amount of work we have carried out in this space.
On a local level, council’s Youth Services team has been collaborating with fellow western metropolitan councils (Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham) on a regional forum for young people, which includes a focus on youth mental health, to be held next week.
Another important milestone was the decision by LeadWest (an advisory committee to councils in Melbourne’s west) to declare youth mental health as a regional advocacy priority.
Celia Haddock, the chief executive of Maribyrnong council, and I also met with the chief executive of Headspace to advocate for more locally-based services.
We are hoping to see a dedicated Headspace office established in our municipality – currently, the closest office is in Sunshine.
We’ve also been liaising with the state government following the release of the landmark Royal Commission Report into Victoria’s mental health system, which outlines changes to create a future mental health and wellbeing system that provides holistic treatment, care and support for all Victorians.
Council is providing input to support the development and roll-out of additional services within our region (with youth mental health being one of the top priorities) as part of the implementation of the report recommendations.
There has also been work at a federal level, with council formally writing to the Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler to advocate for better access to youth mental health support services for our community.
While these are notable achievements and milestones, there is still a lot to be done in this space – but together with our partners, I am confident that we as a community are becoming better equipped to serve our young people especially during times when their resilience might be tested.
