headspace and services for 12 to 25s
headspace is free or close to it for anyone aged 12 to 25. You don’t need a Referral A letter from a GP, psychiatrist or paediatrician that you need for the Medicare rebate. You can see a psychologist without one if you pay the full fee. More in the jargon decoder , you don’t have to bring a parent, and you can book it yourself.
It’s run by the National Youth Mental Health Foundation and funded by the Australian Government. There are more than 150 centres, in cities and in regional, rural and remote areas. Family members and other adults supporting someone aged 12 to 25 can use it too.
What headspace covers
- Mental health and wellbeing. How you’ve been feeling, and what might help.
- Physical and sexual health. Health checks, sexual health, and seeing a GP (general practitioner) For most people, where getting help starts. A GP can write a Mental Health Treatment Plan, prescribe medication and refer you on, and some are trained to deliver a small number of structured therapy sessions themselves. More in the jargon decoder .
- Alcohol and other drugs. Support and counselling around alcohol or other drug use.
- Work and study. Job hunting, writing a resume, picking courses, or trouble at school.
Some centres also run early psychosis programs.
Getting an appointment
You don’t need a referral from a doctor. Ring or email your nearest centre and ask for an appointment.
Someone else can make that call for you — a friend, teacher, parent, family member, health worker or community agency. Some centres also take drop-ins during opening hours.
If you’re not sure what to say, what to say when you book has lines you can read straight off your screen.
What happens when you get there
You check in at reception, and you’ll be asked to fill in a survey on an iPad. It takes about 20 minutes. It’s used to work out what support would suit you, and to track how things change if you keep coming. Nothing in it decides whether you’re allowed to be there.
Then you sit down with a staff member and talk about what’s going on. Someone from the centre rings you afterwards to go through what they can offer you.
What happens in a first session covers what a therapy appointment is like more generally.
What it costs
What you pay depends on which service you’re using, and on whether you have a Medicare Australia's public health insurance scheme. For mental health, it gives rebates on sessions with psychologists and some other professionals, usually through a Mental Health Treatment Plan. More in the jargon decoder card.
Free to everyone aged 12 to 25, including international students:
- your first call and your first appointment
- brief support, usually around four to six sessions
- alcohol and other drug support
- work and study support
Bulk billed, which means free if you have a Medicare card:
- counselling and mental health sessions, up to 16 of them
- GP appointments
If you don’t have a Medicare card, you pay the Medicare benefit amount for the bulk-billed services. Everything on the free list stays free either way. headspace doesn’t add a private fee on top of the bulk-billing amount, so there’s no gap to find.
Centres are run locally, and what they offer and what they charge vary between them. Ask your centre when you ring.
If you’d rather not go in person
eheadspace is the online and phone side of the same service.
- Phone 1800 650 890, or use web chat or email.
- 3pm to 10pm, every day.
- Free, though your mobile plan may charge you for the call.
- For 12 to 25s, and for family members and other adults supporting someone that age.
On privacy, headspace says it won’t share your personal information without your consent unless the law allows or requires it, for example when there’s a serious safety concern. It says that where it can, it will let you know first if it needs to involve other services.
If you’re under 18, can I see someone without my parents knowing? goes through when a professional might have to tell someone, and other ways a parent might find out.
If the wait is long
Centres often have a queue, sometimes months long, and it varies a lot between centres and between areas. Ringing more than one is worth the ten minutes.
eheadspace and Kids Helpline are open in the meantime, and free and low-cost options has what else costs nothing.
When headspace isn’t the fit
headspace stops at 25. After that you’re into the ordinary adult routes, and who does what sets out which profession does which job, what each one costs, and which ones Medicare covers.
Kids Helpline goes from 5 to 25, so it reaches further down than headspace does.
If things are bad right now, you don’t have to wait for an appointment. Kids Helpline is on 1800 55 1800, any time, for anyone aged 5 to 25. Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the Suicide Call Back Service is on 1300 659 467. In an emergency, call 000. Crisis and emergency support has the full list.
Where next
What therapy actually is describes what happens in a session, how long it usually runs, and how it differs from talking to a friend.
Would I benefit from therapy? starts from what you’d want to be different, rather than from whether things are bad enough.