This national day is to ensure every young person has access to youth friendly mental health services, no matter where they live.

headspace day celebrated 10 years of innovation in youth mental health and was also triggered by alarming new research from Orygen and headspace that revealed over 50 per cent of young people were waiting six or more months before seeking help for mental health issues.

This period of waiting and worrying can have detrimental effects. From social isolation to relationship breakdowns, drug and alcohol abuse and in severe cases, incidents of self-harm or suicide. The research also uncovered that close to 50 per cent of young people said financial cost was a barrier in preventing them from getting treatment.

Nearly half said they believed they could not be helped and more than 50 per cent said they were afraid of what others would think. We need to change these perceptions. Every year, a quarter of all young people will experience mental health issues and we want them all to know headspace is here to help. With 95 centres, integrated with a phone and online chat service eheadspace, over the past decade headspace has enabled over 270,000 young people to access mental health care. We will soon expand to 110 headspace centres thanks to the government’s endorsement of headspace as its model for youth mental health care.

headspace has made outstanding progress over the past 10 years but we still have a way to go. Access is crucial and help seeking is the first step every young person must make and we need to continue to provide effective and easy pathways to make sure this can happen for everyone.

We want to see every community with a headspace centre. If you who would like to support headspace visit headspaceday.org.au to see how you and your local community can get involved or give a donation to support young people in need. And finally thanks to everyone who took part in the first headspace day.

Professor Patrick McGorry AO, headspace Founding Board member