Last year, the ABC reported, teenagers as young as 13 were being placed in adult mental health wards, even though they were not designed for young people. But the opening today of an adolescent unit at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children will supply “the missing piece of the puzzle” for adolescent mental health services, health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.
The unit, a new two-storey building, contains six dedicated mental health beds, the first in the ACT public health system, and eight medical beds for young people admitted to hospital.
Two of these beds can be adapted to meet demand in the unit at any given time. For instance, Ms Stephen-Smith explained, if a patient is admitted to hospital because of an eating disorder, the new facility can support both their physical needs and their mental health.
Canberra Health Services’ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) will operate the mental health beds.
“The facility is highly specialised for young people who need inpatient support for mental health needs,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “For those people whose needs are escalating, or who need some inpatient support, being able to do that here in the ACT without either going to the adult mental health unit (which is not ideal at all) or having to access a service interstate will be a real change.”
The facility is not a secure unit, however; young people who have extremely high levels of psychosis or are on treatment orders may need to be admitted to secure units interstate.
“This space has been specifically designed for young people, to be their space for healing and to support them on their mental health journey,” mental health minister Emma Davidson said.
“We’ve been providing treatment and support for young people experiencing mental health conditions, for some time now, but sometimes, we’ve needed to do that in spaces that were designed for adults rather than for young people. We really wanted to provide a space that was designed specifically for young people and make sure that it really meets all of their needs.”
The new adolescent unit includes a negative pressure room; a bariatric rated room with lifter (for obese people); a treatment room; a sensory room; interview spaces; and shared spaces where patients can socialise, play games, watch television, or read – “A really supportive environment where young people can come together and feel like their lives are relatively normal while they’re getting therapeutic treatment that they require,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The unit also provides therapies including psychology and psychiatry, creative arts therapy, music therapy, exercise physiology, and occupational therapy – “All of the things that help to look after the whole person,” Ms Davidson said.
The unit also includes artwork by Paul Summerfield, byrd, Julie Bradley, and Indigenous artist Natalie Bateman. The government states it will “create a place of healing and inspiration”.
Mental health patients will be able to step down to the Adolescent Day Program, which supports young people at risk of hospitalisation for mental health reasons. The service was relocated from Belconnen to the new building’s ground floor, Ms Davidson said. (Read more.)
“It is much better that young people are supported in the community and in their home, with wraparound supports from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
