Local adolescents will have the opportunity to access a new era of mental health services on the Sunshine Coast powered by local health foundation, Wishlist.
Wishlist has committed to directing $436,000 towards a parental resilience group and youth advisory group – to be activated in the Australian-first Wishlist Centre opposite Sunshine Coast University Hospital – over the next two years.
Wishlist chief executive officer Lisa Rowe said the funding would help Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS) staff enhance care informed by lived experience, for the increasing number of youth with complex mental health issues that have escalated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“200 young people are referred a month to the Mental Health Department and this number is not slowing down,” Ms Rowe said.
SCHHS service development and research coordinator Bramwell Morton, an experienced clinician and registered nurse, will work with project support officer Sarah Hickey and a group of adolescents who have experienced child youth and mental health services – and provide a platform to amplify their voice.
There are a variety of directions this may take, including access to health services, informing use of digital technology in delivery of mental health, and will be determined in the coming months.
“These groups have the power to change the lives of adolescents and their families like we’ve never seen before in the mental health service environment on the Sunshine Coast,” Mr Morton said.
“We really want to put it back on the adolescent group members and say we want to look through your eyes and create a better system for a legacy into the future.”
Ms Rowe said the groups would fit in perfectly to the comfortable and supportive environment that Wishlist Centre will be for patients and families when it opens mid-year.
“For every young person who walks through the doors of their local public hospital, there is a family. Each person in that family is impacted by their family member’s health journey in a unique way, and that cannot be underestimated. We believe through these emerging groups, families will ideally receive what they believe is missing in their health journey,” she said.
Mr Morton said his team would soon be seeking to recruit six consumer and carer positions who will establish the youth advisory droup. The parental resilience groups will be available to parents who want to be supported with their own recovery journey while their child is recovering.
“We are just so excited about this opportunity and want to say a huge thank you to Wishlist for making this vision become a reality,” he said.
Help local families going through a health crisis by donating a virtual brick at wishlist.org.au In doing so, you will be part of the legacy in Wishlist Centre.
