A NURTURING 10-bed support centre for 16-25 year olds with mental health issues is running at full capacity soon after its launch last month.
Dandenong Youth Prevention and Recovery Care Service gives 24-hour treatment in a spacious David Street building.
The $4.7 million centre is brightly furnished with young people’s artworks, beanbags and comfy seats, a central communal kitchen and accommodation for partners and children.
The centre is run by Monash Health with partners Mind Australia and Youth Support and Advocacy Service.
The state government will provide $7.2 million over the next four years for its ongoing use.
SEE Also: Mental health hub to ‘save young people’
The patients stay on a voluntary basis — a system that better aids recovery than a locked facility, Mind Australia region manager Denis Hovic said.
“It’s extremely important to run on trust, to make people feel at home and not in an institution.”
Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge, who officially opened the centre last Tuesday, said early intervention was important, with 75 per cent of severe mental illness emerging before the age of 25.
She said the centre would bring together agencies dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse, uncertain housing and family problems — issues that were often intertwined.
The idea is catching on. The state government has opened similar centres in Frankston and Bendigo. Monash Health and Mind Australia are separately planning to open similar services for adults and female-only centres in Springvale and Narre Warren.
What do you think? Post a comment below.
For all the latest breaking news, stay with this website. Also, follow the Weekly at facebook.com/dandenongjournal or on Twitter @DandyJournal.
