MEDIA RELEASE: RHealth named as successful bidder for new Roma Headspace Centre
A major milestone in the establishment of the Maranoa’s first stand-alone headspace centre has been achieved with the selection of RHealth as the successful bidder for the project.
Specialising in delivering health services to regional, rural and remote Queensland for the past 25 years, RHealth was today named as the lead agency responsible for delivering the centre.
“RHealth is no stranger to the South West where they have a long history of working in and around General Practice but also in mental health, so they’re ideally positioned to be part of this exciting project,” WQPHN CEO Stuart Gordon said.
“There can only be one winner, but without exception all the other bidders passed on their congratulations, which typifies the team mentality and collaborative nature of service providers in the West, all willing each other to succeed.”
Maranoa MP David Littleproud said the new headspace centre was a top priority, with young people across the region to benefit from increased access to mental health services in the bush.
“I’m proud to have secured $5.1 million over four years in Federal Government funding towards this important project which will give youth in Maranoa a safe place to turn to, and greater access to the support services they need.”
Maranoa Regional Council Mayor Tyson Golder agrees tackling mental health issues early in life is key.
“Obviously there are lots of challenges with mental health, as the world speeds up I think we miss connections between each other, so getting people in the younger age group to be able to have someone to connect with and sort things out is going to be great for the Shire,” Mr Golder said.
“headspace” currently has more than 110 centres in Australia that have been accessed by young people on more than 3 million occasions since their inception.
Recent national headspace survey results (conducted during or emerging from COVID lockdown):
- One third of young Australians (34%) report high or very high levels of psychological distress, higher among young women, than young men.
- One in two young people (51%) were unable to carry out their daily activities on at least one day in the previous 2 weeks (41% in 2018).
- Rates of coping or ‘dealing with life’ have significantly dropped among 12-14 year olds (72% cope well in 2018, down to 63% in 2020), and among 22-25 year olds (54% cope well in 2018, down to 47% in 2020).
The full media release can be found here.
Media Liaison:
Paul Stone (WQPHN) M: 0414 326 848 E: paul@sticksandstonespr.com.au