Implementing and Delivering Youth Mental Health Services: Approaches Taken by the Australian Primary Health Network ‘Lead Sites’

Aim: This paper aims to report on effective approaches for, and early impacts of, implementing and delivering services for youth with, or at risk of, severe mental illness commissioned by 10 Primary Health Network (PHN) Lead Sites (reform leaders) in Australia. Methods: The following qualitative data sources were analyzed using a thematic approach: focus group consultations with 68 Lead Site staff and 70 external stakeholders from Lead Site regions; and observational data from one Lead Site meeting with a focus on services for youth with, or at risk of, severe mental illness and one national symposium that was attended by Lead Site staff and service providers. Results: The Lead Site staff described common effective strategies for implementing and delivering youth enhanced services as follows: building on existing youth services, establishing effective linkages with other local youth enhanced services, and providing complementary clinical and non-clinical services. Early impacts of youth enhanced services that were described by Lead Site staff and external stakeholders included: improved service quality and access, positive effects on consumers and/or carers (e.g., reduced symptomology), and sector-wide impacts such as improved service integration. Staff members from two Lead Sites also mentioned negative impacts (e.g., uncertainty of continued funding). Suggestions for future improvements by Lead Site staff and external stakeholders included: involving young people in service design and planning, improving service access, addressing clinical workforce shortages, improving data collection and usage, and establishing greater service integration. Conclusions: These findings highlight the necessity for collaborative and localized responses as well as service models that combine clinical and non-clinical care to address the needs of young people with, or at risk of, severe mental illness. Early impacts that were reported by stakeholders indicated that PHN-commissioned youth-enhanced services had positive impacts for consumers, carers, and the wider service sector.