Consultation on draft models of care for headspace Plus and Youth Specialist Care Centres

Overview

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (the Department) is seeking feedback on the models of care that have been drafted for headspace Plus and Youth Specialist Care Centres (YSCCs).

Background

The Australian Government is investing more than $700 million to deliver more free mental health services for young people aged 12 to 25 years. This includes:

• $225.3 million for new and upgraded headspace centres, including upgrading 30 centres to deliver headspace Plus
• $490.3 million for a new network of 20 YSCCs.

headspace Plus and YSCCs will strengthen the continuum of care by addressing well-recognised service gaps in the mental health system for young people with higher intensity needs.

headspace Plus will build on the long established and trusted headspace model, enhancing capacity to provide a greater range of holistic and specialist supports for young people who need a higher level of care.

YSCCs will build on Early Psychosis Youth Services and help young people with severe or emerging mental health conditions who have high complexity needs that exceed primary mental health care, but who do not require state-funded acute and specialist tertiary treatment. This will include specialist, multidisciplinary, longer-term support for psychosis, eating disorders, personality disorder, and severe mood and anxiety disorders. 

Draft models of care for headspace Plus and YSCCs

Clear models of care are needed so everyone understands how these new services will work, who they’re meant for, and what help they’ll provide.

The models of care will be the basis for how the services operate. They will be used by Primary Health Networks (PHNs), lead agencies and service partners. The models of care are based on evidence and services will be assessed against them. This will ensure that services are providing care that has been proven to work.

The models of care are intended to provide a framework. They do not include detailed operational or implementation matters as these will be worked through separately to allow services to adapt to local circumstances.

headspace National (for headspace Plus) and Orygen (for YSCCs) have drafted models of care for these new services on behalf of the Department. These organisations have significant expertise in youth mental health, including experience in developing models of care and delivering youth mental health services. 

The draft models of care have been informed by:

• advice provided by an Expert Advisory Group that includes a cross-section of key sector stakeholders
• advice provided by a Jurisdictional Working Group that includes representatives from the Commonwealth, states and territories
• targeted consultations undertaken by headspace National and Orygen
• sector-led advice on youth mental health models of care that was delivered in 2025.

Implementation

headspace Plus and YSCCs will be rolled out in stages. Some services will start operating from 2027-28 and all services will be operating from 2029-30.

headspace Plus and YSCC services will be commissioned by PHNs. Through this process, PHNs will contract lead agencies to establish and then manage the operation of headspace Plus or YSCC services. Lead agencies will then contract service partners to deliver headspace Plus or YSCC services in a locally responsive manner.

Locations of headspace Plus centres have been decided. Existing Early Psychosis Youth Services (EPYS) will transition to become YSCCs and an extra 12 new centres will be established. Locations of new YSCCs have not yet been decided.

EPYS are currently co-located with headspace services. While YSCCs may be co-located with headspace services, this will not be a requirement.

About this consultation

This consultation is seeking feedback on the models of care that have been drafted for headspace Plus and YSCCs. You can view the draft models of care in the following links:

draft headspace Plus model of care

draft YSCC model of care

The Department is seeking feedback on the following components of the draft models of care:

• target population
• minimum service requirements
• flexibility to allow for local implementation
• workforce required to adequately deliver these models of care
• pathways into and out of services delivering these models of care
• safety and quality considerations
• integration with existing mental health and other relevant services.

The questions in this consultation will seek your views on the extent to which you agree with each of the components above. You will also be asked if the draft models of care are implementable and if they are missing anything important.

You can provide your views by responding to the online survey or uploading a written submission. You can choose to provide feedback on one draft model of care or both.

Feedback is not being sought on the following matters which are outside the scope of this consultation:

• commissioning arrangements for headspace Plus and YSCC services
• locations of headspace Plus and YSCC services
• sequencing for upgrading headspace centres to headspace Plus
• sequencing for expanding and rebranding EPYS to YSCCs
• the existing headspace model of care
• detailed operational or implementation matters
• opportunities for broader system reforms
• formatting and style noting the final versions of the draft models of care will be professionally typeset and proofread.

This consultation is open to everyone over the age of 18. The diverse perspectives, experiences and knowledge of all stakeholders and interested members of the community are valued and respected.

This consultation will be open until 11 June 2026. Late responses will not be accepted. You can save your responses and come back to update or edit them at any time (providing you have not already submitted them) until the closing date.

If you or someone you know is having a difficult time, if things just seem too much, reach out for support:

• Lifeline on 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• 13YARN on 13 92 76
• headspace on 1800 650 890
• Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
• Medicare Mental Health on 1800 595 212
• Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
• QLife on 1800 184 527
• Butterfly Foundation on 1800 334 673

What happens next

Feedback will be used to refine the draft models of care for headspace Plus and YSCCs. These are expected to be finalised in mid-2026 following approval by Government.