Headspace Tamworth have left their Darling St office to move to the V Guy Kable Building on Marius St. It’s a move that puts them in the same building as their lead agency Centacare.
Like the name suggests, Headspace is in the business of looking after young Australians’ overall health, often with their mental health. But it isn’t two dimensional by any stretch; the program draws praise from Tamworth Community Engagement Officer, Jess Downey,
“Everything that is going to be up the hill is everything that young people have already had the chance to access before, and it’s quite comprehensive.”
The facilities on offer include access to a nurse, options for counselling if someone isn’t quite feeling right, or computer access if people would like counselling but feel face to face is a bit too close.
Ms Downey says that while people often do associate Headspace with mental health, the organisation looks to help people out mentally, physically, sexually, and also socially through being active in the workforce.
“It is quite holistic,” she said, “We’re going to have an open day and there’ll be a Welcome to Country, someone is going to come through and bless the building too.”
“We really want to think of this space from every angle because no two people who come through the doors are the same.”
And while it will be the same Headspace that has been helping Australians for years, the new digs will mean a little more to the Tamworth Girl who oversees the community operations,
“Me and my youth reference group got to design the rooms based on what young people want.”
“They all have a different theme; we’ve got a room for young men, a room for First Nations People and so on, it’s all been really well thought out to give young people something that they want.”
It’s indicative of a fairly significant chunk of young people who have bought into the ethos of Headspace already and will be looking forward to their own space on Marius St.
“That’s it too, a lot of it is about ownership. We get people who volunteer themselves and we’ll take them on and work with them.”
“But if a parent rings up because their teenager is in their room all day, there has to be buy-in from the kid because it’s a voluntary program.”
Headspace has a no wrong door policy – meaning to the best of their ability, they will not turn anyone away who comes for help.
“We want to help, one of the hardest things is having to let someone go and we never want to. We do what we can though.”
“If someone is having a hard time with anxiety for instance, they might come sit down and we’ll do our best to talk a bit about that. But then we might refer them on to Billabong or TAMS or even Centacare – especially with them, they’ll just be the next door over now.”
“We’ll resource them as best we can and then refer them on to another service they can actually access.”
Headspace Tamworth will have an open day at their new premises on Monday, July 29, at 11am, with Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Emma McBride, set to officially open the new centre. The following day, McBride will officially open Headspace Armidale which is now officially its own centre.
Top image: The Headspace Tamworth team saying goodbye to their old offices (Facebook: Headspace Tamworth)
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