Riley* began seeing a psychologist when he was just 13 years old, but his mental health really deteriorated in 2020, when he was in Year 12.
"I went to headspace and I had my one-hour session with them as an intake session, and they listened to my story," Riley said. Riley's story is reflective of what health professionals have coined 'the missing middle', the group of people who are most likely to fall through the gaps of the existing system.
The COVID-era doubling of Medicare-subsidised psychology and mental health social worker sessions from 10 to 20 under the Better Access Scheme was broadly welcomed by both healthcare professionals and patients.
"Ten sessions isn't even enough for me to go monthly, which means it's barely worth me going at all. I'm kind of just stuck until things get to crisis point." " we were wanting to see psychological services made really affordable for young people, and particularly for young people working in rural and living in rural and regional areas. We also wanted to see a really big investment in crisis services for young people," Dr Burgess said."It all boils down to workforce," Dr Astha Tomar from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists told Hack.