Youth Service Integration Resource Kit Evaluation

A pilot feasibility randomised controlled trial designed to improve integration between headspace centres and other community-based mental health services. The project aims to strengthen how youth mental health services work together so that young people can access more timely, coordinated and personalised care.

The challenge

More than one million young people in Australia experience mental ill health each year, yet many still face delays, fragmentation and gaps in care. Youth mental health systems are often disconnected across primary, secondary and tertiary services, as well as drug and alcohol, social care and other community supports.

Our approach

Builds on earlier Youth Integration Project work, which co-produced a digital Resource Kit with young people, families and service providers. In Phase 1, the Kit is refined through co-design with two headspace sites. In Phase 2, the adapted Kit is tested in a pilot feasibility RCT across ten headspace centres in NSW.

Key goals

• Improve integration between headspace and other community-based mental health services.

• Strengthen referral pathways, communication and continuity of care for young people aged 12 to 25.

• Assess whether the Resource Kit is acceptable, feasible and appropriate for real-world settings.

• Explore barriers and facilitators to implementation.

• Examine whether the Resource Kit improves experience of care and functional recovery.

• Determine whether a larger national trial is warranted.

Evaluation & impact

Primary outcomes focus on feasibility and levels of integration between services, measured using the Rating of Integrated Health Services survey. Secondary outcomes include young people's experience of care, functional outcomes, and implementation outcomes.