Needs Analysis

Youth services on Kangaroo Island

Aaron Mellon

Schools and School Counsellors

1 Counsellor for years 6-12 at Kingscote + Case manager for R-12

445 students

1 Counsellor at Parndana

145 students

1 Counsellor at Penneshaw

75 students

 There is currently no mental health service

for young people on Kangaroo Island.
The Community Health Service will only see
under 18s in crisis situations.
For 2 days a fortnight a CAMHS (Child and
Adolescent Mental Health Service) worker
visits from Mount Barker CAMHS.
School counsellors do not have up to date
mental health certifications.

In Australia, approximately 11% of young

people aged between 14 and 25 years reside
in outer regional, remote and very remote
Australia.
At least one in four of these young people is
likely to experience a mental health problem
during his or her school years.

With 26% of the population being under 25,

having limited access to youth services can
put young people at risk.
Suicide rates are higher in rural and remote
areas than in urban areas.

I propose the hiring of a youth worker by the

Kangaroo Island Health Service.
This worker would be based at the Health
Service in Kingscote, and could potentially
travel to other townships on Kangaroo Island
to extend their reach.

The youth worker would have to be someone

who is not originally from the community
because there could be conflicts of interest.
Along with needing time to themselves, the
worker would also need to get away from the
entire community for a few days a
fortnight/month.

As there is currently no dedicated youth worker

on Kangaroo Island, the addition of one to the
community health centre can only improve
their reputation, as well as being a benefit to
the community.

References
Crockett, Judith 2012, 'There's nothing the *@#! wrong with me': youth mental health and substance use in rural and remote Australia and the
potential role of school-based interventions. Youth Studies Australia, v.31, no.1, Mar 2012: 53-59.

ABS, 2011 Census QuickStats [online] Kangaroo Island (Statistical Area Level 2).

http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/407011145 [cited 20 Sept 13]

J. Harrison, J. Moller & S Bordeaux, Last updated 2010, http://www.nisu.flinders.edu.au/pubs/bulletin15/bulletin15sup.html/ [cited 20

Sept 13]