By Mikayla van Loon
As mental health conditions present more and more in the Yarra Ranges compared to other local government areas (LGA) in the outer east, the potential closure of the Lilydale Youth Hub has many concerned for the future wellbeing of young people.
For the first time, mental health was recognised as a chronic health condition on the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census and has shown the number of young people noting mental health issues in the local area.
The Census data for the Yarra Ranges identified 6,071 young people aged zero to 34 registering a chronic mental health condition, with 2,417 of those between the ages of 15 and 24.
According to the Lilydale Youth Hub’s own data collected over the last year between June 2021 and October 2022, the age brackets presenting most to its service are 14 to 16 and 16 to 18 years.
Two thirds of the clients the Hub has seen are female, one third male and more than two per cent identify as non-binary or indeterminate.
Compared to the LGA of Knox, which has a higher population, young people in the Yarra Ranges are 17 per cent more likely to have a mental health condition.
They are also 44 per cent more likely than Maroondah young people and 28 per cent more than Cardinia.
“Youth mental health is a major concern for the community and now is not the time to let a service like ours close. It gives hope and possibility to young people and helps save lives,” Inspiro CEO Sue Sestan said.
With 32 per cent of clients coming from Mooroolbark, Lilydale and Kilsyth, Star Mail asked its Evelyn candidates about the ongoing mental health challenges the electorate is facing.
Greens candidate Andrew Henley said he was unaware of the situation facing the Lilydale Youth Hub until recently and has since thrown his full support behind the service to advocate for future funding.
“The Youth Hub is a vital part of preventative programs to treat mental health early. Our paramedics and police are now seeing the result of successive governments’ failures to fund preventative mental health programs,” he said.
“We want to talk about the strain on our hospitals and emergency services? The Youth Hub is one of many programs we can implement to remove pressure on our health system in the future.”
Mr Henley said the Greens’ policy around mental health has a major focus on providing and funding “community mental health programs and clinical services.”
Independent candidate Rosalie De Francesco said she does not believe this service should close given the increase in mental health and would use her personal connections to help fund the Hub past 2022.
“I believe what the Youth Hub is doing is great, they have created a safe space in which the younger community and families can go. One of my key party policies is assisting with mental health issues and advocating for funding is something I will do,” she said.
Having originally been funded by former Federal Liberal MP Tony Smith in 2019, Evelyn Liberal candidate Bridget Vallence said it would fall on Labor’s shoulders for not refunding the service.
“The prospect of the Lilydale Youth Hub closing is devastating and poses a significant clinical risk to clients who face losing valuable connections and being discharged into the mental health system that is already at capacity,” she said.
“Pandemic lockdowns disproportionately impacted our young people, so having early intervention mental health services locally is particularly important. It is also a clear recommendation of the Royal Commission into Mental Health to support community based mental health hubs.”
Labor candidate Lorna Dent said as a Commonwealth funded initiative, she would encourage the Federal government to continue funding the Hub but is in support of the Victorian Mental Health and Wellbeing Local coming to Lilydale.
“We’re not wasting a minute building a mental health system that supports every young Victorian whether it’s walk-in, community-based care or acute hospital treatment – with more than $6 billion invested in youth mental health in the past three budgets alone and new services already open right across the state,” she said.
In Victoria’s mental health services annual report 2020–21, released by the Victorian Department of Health, community based child and adolescent mental health services contributed the largest amount of support for young people
These services include assessment and treatment, adolescent day programs or intensive outreach, similar to what the Hub provides on a daily basis, and saw 357,791 reported contacts across Victoria, an increase of 2.9 per cent.
“Closing the Hub denies the community access to quality mental health support. There is a specific rise in instances relating to re-entering social situations post Covid lockdowns,” Inspiro CEO Ms Sestan said.
“Young people have reported having anxiety pre-Covid, but now finding it exacerbated or getting worse due to factors such as re-adjusting to social situations, or uncertainty about jobs, education or health.”
Seeing over 300 young people as at May 2022, parents and young people from all over expressed their gratitude and deep sense of devastation at the thought of losing the Youth Hub.
“Without this support my young person would not be where she is today and my young person is still getting the best care and support. [The] Yarra Ranges needs this hub to continue on after December this year,” one parent said.
“We have been at a crisis point and there are just no other services around that we have been able to get him into that can provide him with a safe space to be linked in with the help he needs. We really feel this service is a lifeline for him,” another parent said.
“The team at the Lilydale Youth Hub are so nice, kind and respectful. They are better than therapy because at the Hub it is actually welcoming and peaceful,” a young person said.
As the representatives and advocates for the Yarra Ranges community, the council has stood by the Hub, with Mayor Jim Child saying it would be detrimental to young people to see this service close and he urges the elected State government to commit to it as well.
“Without the Hub, our local service providers simply cannot meet demand and our young people are left without critical support…We have seven per cent more people seeking mental health related support than in Victoria overall,” he said.
“This past year, the Hub has provided a critical point of community connection and delivered much-needed service capacity. They’ve held their doors open at a time when so many services were turning people away or putting them on extremely long waitlists.”
Funding for the Lilydale Youth Hub expires at the end of 2022 and will see the service close without a contribution made from either State or Federal governments.
