https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbmgrusYhOE
HeadtoHelp mental health hubs
More help, support and access to best care
HeadtoHelp provides advice and a welcoming place for everyone who needs mental health and wellbeing support. It is available to all Victorians of all ages, regardless of whether their mental health issues are pre-existing or emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
HeadtoHelp is the extra help GPs may need to manage the increased number of people seeking mental health support.
HeadtoHelp provides care navigation, access to a multidisciplinary mental health team at the hubs and a team-care approach, to complement and supplement GP care.
Call 1800 595 212 to speak to the HeadtoHelp intake team.
Primary Health Networks are taking a staged approach to ramping up the multidisciplinary teams within hubs. With your help, we are developing a more connected mental health system that will give people the extra support they need, during the pandemic and beyond.
To find out more about the HeadtoHelp, read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for general practitioners and information for service providers. These cover intake and hub services, and how HeadtoHelp interacts with your existing use of and referral to CAREinMIND™ and other services.
Please note, HeadtoHelp is not a crisis service and patients requiring immediate care or crisis intervention should be managed through the local mental health triage or 000 if there are immediate safety concerns.
Hub locations
The HeadtoHelp hubs are now open at 15 locations across Victoria. The three hubs in our region are:
- Broadmeadows – DPV Health
42/48 Coleraine Street, Broadmeadows - Wyndham Vale – IPC Health
510 Ballan Road, Wyndham Vale - Brunswick East – Clarity Healthcare
3/55 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East
Resources and information
Help promote HeadtoHelp services
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Campaign toolkit: English
During the first wave of the pandemic, families around the world expressed solidarity by placing teddy bears in windows. In phase two of the HeadtoHelp campaign, we’re asking people to #SharetheBear to show their support for people in need of mental health care.
- Download campaign toolkit (includes links to all assets)
Individual assets
- A4 poster: Feeling lonely
- A4 poster: Feeling uncertain
- A4 poster: Job worries
- Social media content calendar
- Social media post: Feeling anxious?
- Social media post: Feeling lonely?
- Social media post: Feeling sad?
- Social media post: Feeling stressed?
- Social media post: Feeling uncertain?
- Social media post: Job worries?
- DL brochure: HeadtoHelp general
- Video: HeadtoHelp general
- Video: Feeling lonely
- Video: Money stress
- Email signature (GIF): HeadtoHelp general
- Website banner: HeadtoHelp general
- Webpage header: HeadtoHelp general
- Webtile: HeadtoHelp general
For help with any of these files, or if you would like crop-mark versions for professional printing, or vertical videos, please email communications@nwmphn.org.au
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Campaign toolkit: other languages
Amharic
Arabic
Assyrian
Dinka
Chinese (Simplified)
- A4 poster – Chinese (Simplified)
- Digital tile – Chinese (Simplified)
- Flyer – Chinese (Simplified)
- Translated copy
Chinese (Traditional)
Dari
Farsi
Greek
Hakha Chin
Hindi
Italian
Karen
Macedonian
Pashto
Punjabi
Somali
Tamil
Turkish
Vietnamese
For help with any of these files, or if you would like crop-mark versions for professional printing, or vertical videos, please email communications@nwmphn.org.au
Further information
We will be updating this page as the service rolls out. If you have any questions, please contact headtohelpintake@nwmphn.org.au or visit headtohelp.org.au
HeadtoHelp is part of North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network building a better-connected mental health system in the community. HeadtoHelp is a collaborative initiative of the Victorian Primary Health Networks and funded by the Australian Government.
Background information
Victoria’s six Primary Health Networks have been funded by the Australian Government to set up 15 HeadtoHelp hubs to support GPs by providing extra mental health services during the pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the funding on 17 August 2020 and directed that the hubs open by 14 September 2020. Primary Health Networks had less than one month to consult, design and open effective mental health hubs that will support, integrate and build on the existing state and federally funded mental health service system. This short deadline meant we were unable to consult with and engage local GPs and others to the usual extent.
We worked with the Victorian and Australian Governments, the Victorian Mental Health Taskforce and local services, analysing various data to determine the hub locations. Due to the short timeframe and the needs of the model of care, providers were determined through a limited expression of interest campaign. Providers had to have capacity, including systems and workforce, in place for an operational multidisciplinary team by 14 September 2020.
On 8 August 2021 Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt announced an extension to the funding. 12 of the Victorian HeadtoHelp hubs, including all 3 in our region, are now funded until 30 June 2022. The HeadtoHelp model of care and 1800 595 212 intake number are now also being used for 10 Head to Health hubs in NSW.
For providers, GPs and other referrers
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Who is it for?
The service supports Victorians of any age experiencing distress or mental ill health, as well as their families. This includes:
- people who have never accessed mental health services before, and their family and friends
- people in aged care, their family and friends
- those ineligible for Medicare, including refugees, people seeking asylum, international students, those with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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How does it work with my existing mental health patients and CAREinMIND?
You can still refer eligible patients to CAREinMIND™ and you don’t have to change how you refer patients to CAREinMIND.
The HeadtoHelp intake team may refer eligible patients to CAREinMIND services and other existing services, including those in the NWMPHN System of Care.
HeadtoHelp intake staff will ensure there is no duplication in your patient’s treatment and services with existing providers.
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How to access HeadtoHelp
GPs and other health professionals can refer patients to HeadtoHelp. No referral or mental health plan is needed in the first instance.
We ask that you do a friendly transfer to the HeadtoHelp service using the 1800 595 212 intake number.
People can either call HeadtoHelp on 1800 595 212, or go directly to a local hub – although calling the intake number first is strongly preferred.
Access to hubs will not be restricted by the location of the person
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Where are the hubs?
There are 15 HeadtoHelp hubs across the state. Three of them are in North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network’s region in Wyndham Vale, Brunswick East and Broadmeadows.
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Operating hours
HeadtoHelp is not a crisis service. Services currently operate from 8:30am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.
If all intake team members are engaged, callers during business hours can leave a message to be called back. After-hours callers will hear a recorded message providing the Beyond Blue number for immediate help. The message also invites callers to call back during HeadtoHelp opening hours.
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What to expect
When you call HeadtoHelp, an experienced mental health professional will work with you, or your patient, to assess their needs and connect them with the most appropriate services, which may include the new mental health hubs or existing services.
In most cases, people will be connected to an existing service, online mental health support service or other community mental health services.
In all cases people will be strongly encouraged to connect with their regular GP or will be helped to find a GP.
People may also be connected to aligned services such as alcohol and other drugs services, family violence services and specialist and support services.
In all cases, people will be strongly encouraged to connect with their regular GP, or will be helped to find a GP.
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Intake and assessment
Intake and assessment will be performed by HeadtoHelp team members on the 1800 595 212 line or direct at a hub.
Team members will use the Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) decision support tool and the Initial Assessment Domains tool to perform intake and inform the level of care required. People with level 1 and 2 needs will be connected with existing lower intensity services. Those with level 3 and 4 needs may receive care at the hubs, either onsite or through telehealth, or other more suitable services. Level 5 will be connected to specialist or acute mental health services, including into emergency care or into an area mental health triage.
Infographics
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Hub services and staff
If there is no appropriate service for a person, the hub can provide telehealth and onsite mental health support through multidisciplinary teams. We are expecting to focus on people with level 3 and 4 needs as determined by the Initial Assessment and Referral tool (see above).
The HeadtoHelp hubs, as they are scaled up, will include multidisciplinary teams of mental health workers, including psychologists, mental health nurses, social workers, and alcohol and other drugs workers, who will coordinate with the patient’s regular GP – or help them find a regular GP. Most hubs will not have a psychiatrist on-staff, as this is not supported by the funding model.
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A team-based approach
We encourage the use of shared care plans, and you will be informed of the outcomes of all your referrals. If your patient needs a mental health treatment plan to access other mental health services, a HeadtoHelp team member will be in contact with you.
