For 25 years, Anglicare’s Junction Youth Health Service in Civic has provided free healthcare and support services to Canberra’s vulnerable young people. Now Junction Youth is going on the road to reach young people in other parts of the city.

A mobile health clinic – a doctor’s surgery inside a van, fitted out with an examining couch, medicine cabinets, and benches – will service Kippax in the north and Erindale in the south. Staffed by a GP and a youth worker, it will help 12- to 25-year-olds (and their children, if any).

“The wheels are going, and we can now support more young people,” Sarah Murdoch, Anglicare’s regional manager of youth, family, and health services, said.

Clinical co-ordinator Kylie Irving realised last year that Junction Youth could not get to many young people, especially homeless youth, or get them into the clinic. Brainstorming with colleagues in the tearoom, she came up with the idea of the van, and Anglicare applied for a grant to the ACT Government, which obliged with $210,000 in funding.

“Canberra is very broad, and our public transport sometimes doesn’t get in as easily as it could,” Ms Murdoch explained. “Our particular cohort have enough barriers to navigate getting in to see us, so the idea is we’ll go to them. We’ll see them right on the spot where they feel comfortable, and pick up those health concerns earlier than waiting for them to come in to see us.”

The van will provide primary healthcare; general health checks; sexual health information and treatment; prescriptions; screening, bloodtests, and pathology; mental health support; and support to stop smoking. All services are free.

The van will refer some young people to Directions Health Services for drug and alcohol rehab the mobile clinic cannot provide.

Once the clinicians are used to the van, Ms Murdoch said, the van will go out further and more often. In the future, the van will have a GP and nurse, or a nurse and youth worker, depending on what Junction Youth anticipates is needed.

Brandon Howard, Anglicare’s CEO for the ACT and parts of NSW, predicts the van will have an “enormous impact”.

“There are a number of reasons why individuals are unable to get into a centre like the Junction, or get proper healthcare,” he said. “The van is going to take GP services, wraparound services, and support to our youth in the communities.”

The van is painted a cheerful yellow, pink, and aqua. The colour scheme, Ms Murdoch explains, is meant to be “inclusive, bright, and happy”. The van also sports Indigenous and pride flags on the side – another sign of its commitment to inclusivity.

“A lot of our young people are LGBQI+, and we really want everyone to feel involved, welcome, and supported,” Ms Murdoch said. “Our services are really for anyone that needs it.”

Junction Youth’s young clients have welcomed the mobile health clinic.

“Having a van with all of these care options that the Junction provides travelling around to different areas would be a huge advantage for many young people who might not have heard of Junction, or might not be able to reach the Junction,” Maggie said. “To have the Junction come to you would erase a heap of roadblocks for many young people. It’s a wonderful idea.”

Meveryn agrees. They have used Junction Youth for a year, and speak highly of its “friendly” staff, being able to see a doctor for free, and support for dealing with Centrelink and their rôle as a carer.

“All the things that I was alone in before, I’m feeling a lot more supported,” they said.

While Meveryn will continue to use the clinic, they say it is great to know that the van is an option if they are not feeling great or up to making a trip into town.

“It takes me about an hour to get here [to the clinic] on public transport most days, so I can’t imagine people who have study, school, or work trying to access this service, especially if they live far away. It makes it so much more accessible to people around Canberra.”

“It is crucial that young people have access to comprehensive primary healthcare no matter their circumstances,” health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.

Junction Youth turns 25

Next month marks Junction Youth’s 25^th anniversary.

In May 1998, the Youth Coalition of the ACT established a pilot programme in the middle of the city, with government backing, to help isolated, disadvantaged, or homeless young people get healthcare and social support.

Once the pilot proved successful, Anglicare managed the service. It grew from a part-time clinic into a five-day service, seeing more than 1,000 people every year, Sarah Murdoch said.

The clinic offers 90-minute appointments so GPs can deal with patients’ problems in one visit: mental health, sexual and reproductive health (contraception and antenatal care), immunisation catchups, general physical check-ups, and drug and alcohol support, Dr Tanya Robertson, Youth Junction’s clinical advisor, explained.

Youth workers at the clinic provide social support: emergency food relief, brokerage, Centrelink and Medicare assistance, housing applications, education, and liaisons with schools.

“Our youth workers and all our clinicians work tightly together so that none of our young people miss out or fall through the gaps,” Ms Murdoch said.

The young people the clinic sees are often disadvantaged: financially, through adverse childhood experiences, or the stigma of being different from society’s norms, Dr Robertson said. Many do not trust the system, and feel unheard and unseen. Many were referred to the Junction by other community services, refuges, police, or child and youth protection services.

But COVID has “ramped up significant challenges”, Brandon Howard said.

The pandemic exacerbated mental health problems, Ms Murdoch said. “Our young people are already isolated … Through COVID, that became even harder. There was a decrease in access to services during that time, which then made us feel like we’re starting on the back foot to get our young people back in, and for them to feel comfortable to come back in.”

Cost of living pressures bring more people to seek food from their pantry, and request brokerage or prescriptions, Dr Robertson said.

In fact, Mr Howard remarked, Anglicare has seen an increase in need within both its youth and family services. The charity wants to provide both direct interventions and wraparound services. It is working on projects in early learning centres, and focusing on homelessness and housing.

Tomorrow, Anglicare will launch its rental affordability snapshot, an annual survey of “the challenges that a lot of individuals and families face in respect to homelessness and affordability”.

More tomorrow.

Youth Junction is open 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday, at 30 Scotts Crossing, Civic. To make an appointment, call (02) 6232 2423. Website: https://www.anglicare.com.au/services/youth-family/health/.