Many young people in our region are struggling with their mental health and can find it difficult to access, navigate and engage with the services and programs that are available. Demand for mental health services is high, with general practice data for our region indicating that 14% of patients between 4-17 years have a coded mental health disorder. Population health data also indicates that our region has higher mental illness and suicide rates compared to the NSW state average.

We are committed to improving the mental health of our community and the local mental health system that supports them. Youth mental health is so important as it doesn’t just affect young people’s lives in the present but can influence a whole community as young people mature into adulthood. Young people in our region have been through so much over the past few years, from drought to bushfires, a pandemic and multiple floods. These traumas could have lasting impacts on young people and our community.

That is why we are excited to be one of eight PHNs nationally working with the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre to develop and implement our own dynamic systems model, co-designed with our community, as part of the ‘Right care, first time, where you live’ Program funded by the BHP Foundation. This Program could have the potential to transform the way decisions are made about local mental health systems. The decision support tool created will assist with integration and coordination of care and will enable us, using data and evidence, to determine the best types of services that are likely to deliver the best outcomes for our community.

The ‘Right care, first time, where you live’ Program co-creates a dynamic systems model, using local service mapping and data, that can provide a birds-eye perspective on what is happening in a particular region’s youth mental health system. A dynamic systems model is a decision support tool that can be used by decision makers to test ‘what-if’ scenarios. For example, what if we increased mental health education programs in schools? Would that reduce the number of young people going to emergency departments in acute psychological distress? Regional place-based decision-support environments are critical to ensure that the right mental healthcare for young people is available in the right place, at the right time, and are sustainable into the future.

Having a diverse group of people mapping out the youth mental health system in our region will enable us to create a dynamic systems model that reflects the reality of the system in our area. As regional providers of federally funded programs, this systems model will help support our advocacy for services in our region that will meet the changing needs of our local community.

I was pleased to attend the first of three community workshops to design the dynamic systems model in the Hawkesbury on Friday, 5 April 2024. Despite the weather over 50 committed stakeholders and community members, including 17 young people, attended the workshop which was a great way kick off the Program.

To complete the design of the systems model, we will hold two more workshops on Friday, 9 August 2024 and Friday 18 October 2024. If you are 18-25 years of age or work with the youth sector and want to be involved, visit our Right care, first time page to find out more.

We look forward to seeing how this program develops and the impact it will have in supporting regional decision makers like us, to make more informed decisions on how to coordinate and fund youth mental health services in our local regions.

Participants at the first 'Right care, first time, where you live' workshop held on Friday 5 April 2024.