PETRIE CELEBRATES NATIONAL HEADSPACE DAY 2019

Today is National headspace Day, which puts the issue of young Australians’ mental health in the spotlight.

National headspace Day draws attention to a significant issue in our region, and encourages young people to discuss their mental health and take steps to improve their wellbeing.

Luke Howarth MP, Federal Member for Petrie, encouraged young Australians in and around the Redcliffe Peninsula to take part in National headspace Day by attending a local event, by talking and sharing ideas with family and friends, and by learning tips to help build and maintain a healthy headspace.

“About 560,000 Australian children and adolescents are estimated to have a mental illness, and that means one in four Petrie youth aged 16 to 24 will experience mental illness in any given year,” Mr Howarth said.

“Young people need to look after their mental health and wellbeing on an ongoing basis. To help with this, headspace National has released wellbeing kits, with seven tips for a healthy headspace.

“I opened headspace Redcliffe in 2014 and since then over 3,300 young people have visited the facility to speak to support workers specialising in mental health, and drug and alcohol issues.”

Jamie Thompson, Regional Manager of Allied Health at headspace Redcliffe thanked Luke for his support over the years and for the Federal Government funding, which had made a genuine difference in providing services for the local youth community.

“In the past the five years we’ve been able to hold over 15,600 appointments and this number could not have been achieved without money from Luke and the Australian Government,” said Mr Thompson.

In 2019–20, the Australian Government will provide almost $120 million across the 111 headspace services across Australia, and has committed $111.3 million over seven years in the 2019–20 Budget to expand the headspace network to 145 services by 2021.

For more information on the day and how to be involved, along with the digital wellbeing kits, visit www.headspace.org.au