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headspace Bendigo have gone back to school and students and staff at Castlemaine Secondary College are benefiting.

Funded by the Victorian Department of Education via the Enhancing Mental Health Support in Schools (EMHSS) initiative – headspace Bendigo clinician Dushy heads over to the school once a fortnight. Based in the wellbeing hub Dushy provides face-to-face counselling sessions and other support to young people.

“It’s good to be there in person,” she says. “Students feel more supported and like there’s less stigma as we’re somewhere neutral and familiar to them.”

In place for two terms now, Dushy (right) has supported numerous students with such success that she now has capacity to see more. Collaboration and trust is key to the success of this type of outreach program, she says, not just between headspace Bendigo and the student, but the school as well.

“The program has provided me the opportunity to connect with the wellbeing team, as well as students, to see and understand challenges from the school’s perspective and figure out what they may need,” Dushy says.

“We look at everything all at once but I’m especially able to look at the mental health side of things and how important that is for the school setting.

“It’s been wonderful to build the relationships I have with both teachers and students.

"Trust, privacy and consent are important to the way this works, and so we don’t share information with anyone – including the school - if we don’t have consent from the student to do so.”

Referrals for the program come to headspace Bendigo via the school’s wellbeing team with an intake-focused support session booked in first. Then, based on a young person’s needs or goals for mental health, more therapeutic sessions are provided.

headspace Bendigo Senior Leader Lindsay Rose says he hopes the program can be expanded out in the future.

“We are in the process of reviewing how this is going,” he says.

“But, being able to replicate this service in other communities surrounding Bendigo means we can support and be there for young people who need it in areas where accessing mental health support face-to-face may be an issue.”