YOUTH mental health service headspace says it has found a potential site to base its new centre in Werribee.
But spokeswoman Carly Wright said the service would not disclose the location until it signed a lease, which it expects will be by December.
Health professionals say the centre will plug a critical gap in mental health, drug, alcohol and vocational support for people aged 12-25. Mental health services are lacking in Wyndham and the closest headspace is in Sunshine.
Wyndham has more than 50,000 youths, making it the fastest-growing local government area in Victoria and ninth fastest nationally.
Ms Wright said a lead agency to manage the centre would be announced by July and could begin recruiting staff before the Werribee headspace opened early next year.
The lead agency will receive a $300,000 grant to establish the service, with continuing funding to support the operation of the site.
Headspace chief executive Chris Tanti said Wyndham had been identified as a community in need of a headspace centre.
“When young people walk into a headspace in Werribee . . . it will be the first time they are able to access all these services in the one place, making it as easy as possible to get help,” he said.
Maria Mercuri, director of New View Psychology which has rooms at Wyndham Private, said a free youth mental health service was a big step for the area.
She said young people in Wyndham were increasingly seeking psychological help for anxiety and depression.
“Families are becoming more and more complex, making it harder for children to adjust, and children are now doing 35 extra-curricular activities and face enormous pressure to do well in school.”
Werribee GP Joe Garra said up to a quarter of his patients each day presented with mental health problems, but there were “fewer than a handful” of private psychiatrists in the Wyndham area.
“Then the burden ends up on the hospitals,” he said. “We’re really limited to where we can refer people for mental health problems.”
