New Orygen Global report highlights value of peer and volunteer-led mental health support in D
New Orygen Global report highlights value of peer and volunteer-led mental health support in Denmark
Young people in Denmark are benefitting from an accessible, low-intensity model of mental health support known as the headspace Denmark model – and a new report from Orygen Global has detailed how this early intervention approach could be adapted to provide care to young people in other countries and contexts.
The headspace Denmark model relies primarily on a volunteer workforce, with counselling provided by trained volunteers who are supported by a relatively small number of paid employees and clinicians.
The report, A low-intensity, low-cost model for youth mental health, details the structure, governance and value of the approach, which offers a highly scalable, low-cost method of providing mental health support to communities, especially in low-resource settings.
Director of Orygen Global, Craig Hodges, said the report provided a comprehensive overview of the current landscape of peer and volunteer-led youth mental health services globally, and analysed the headspace Denmark model in detail to show the difference it can make to young people.
“We know that young people around the world are in urgent need of more mental health support, and we know how important early intervention and accessibility are if we want to tackle the growing mental health crisis,” Hodges said.
“What we’ve seen with the headspace Denmark model is that a service which is non-clinical and sits outside of the health care sector can have an important role to play in youth mental health, offering young people and their families support without referrals or waiting lists.
“This work to evaluate the Danish model is an important part of our global mission to create innovative solutions to youth mental health care – solutions which are scalable and adaptable around the world.”
Trine Hammershøy, CEO of headspace Denmark, said that key to the model was how accessible it is for young people, with no need for a referral, no cost involved and no waiting time.
“Although Denmark is not a low-resource country, we still experience challenges in our health system, where young people have trouble accessing mental health support when and where they need it,” Hammershøy said.
“The model’s core mission is to look at every young person as an expert of their own life, with our services offering space for reflection and connection. Everything we do must make sense for young people and must be on their terms. We support young people to find their own ways forward with questions that concern them, and where more serious concerns exist, we can act as a bridge to other specialised services.
“We are very proud of the international interest in learning from what we do, and we are especially proud of our many volunteers who spend their free time on something that has huge value for others."
The report found that the headspace Denmark model offered a valuable, low-cost addition to models relying on a clinical workforce, and could act as an effective early intervention option for young people who do not require specialist clinical care.
This aligns closely with recent WHO guidance that “individuals without a background in child mental health can be trained to deliver mental health care effectively. Task-sharing can be done with individuals with and without clinical backgrounds, including youth lay counsellors”.
The report will be launched at an online event on Tuesday 19 August at 7pm AEST. Find out more and register to attend here.