You can be in control of your care.
We can help find your way
Getting the right help is hard
Your mental health journey is unique, so your care should be too. But finding the right support can be really hard.
The Australian mental health system is complicated and confusing to navigate. Young people don’t always get the help they need the first time they reach out.
Sometimes it feels like you need to fit into a box instead of getting support that works for you.
We’re trying to help young people have an easier journey through the system.
We've created
The Brain And Mind Centre
Youth Model Of Care
Data from over 10,000 young people and their families helped us develop our model. It describes what high quality, personalised and measurement-based care actually looks like.
Importantly, the model helps you and your health professional look at the whole picture of your mental health, including your thoughts, feelings, connections with others, physical health, and how you’re doing in school or at work to create a plan that actually works for you. It’s important that you get to focus on the goals that are most important to you. By tracking how you’re going over time, you and your health professional can adjust your care as things change because what helps you now might be different from what helps in the future.
We want to ensure you have the knowledge and tools to feel confident speaking up about your own care. This means making sure every step in your care journey matches what matters most to you.
Our model and this site is all about empowering you to have a voice in your care.
See How The Model Fits Together
Introducing:
The Youth Model Of Care
Personalised care is all about putting you at the centre of your mental health care.
By learning what personalised care is, you can feel more in control when talking to health professionals about your mental health and get the right care more quickly.
Multi-Dimensional Assessment
Many things matter for your mental health. This includes how you are going now and in the past, your social relationships, daily functioning, physical health, substance use, and background, culture, and identify.
Clinical Staging
Mental health occurs along a spectrum and can change over time. Clinical staging takes this into account to help you and your health professional figure out the care that meets your needs right now.
Outcome Monitoring
Tracking your progress over time can help you identify patterns in your mental health. This makes it easier to figure out what works well for you and what doesn’t. Â
Shared Decision Making
You know what’s happening for you better than anyone. By collaborating with your health professional to make decisions about your care, you can help ensure your care is specific to your needs, preferences, and goals.
Together, these components can help you and your health professional personalise your care journey so that it’s right for your needs and preferences.
What does the Youth Model of Care mean for me?
Personalised care
Getting the best care for you
Your mental health journey is unique. What works best for someone else, may not work for you. Finding the right care for your needs can be overwhelming, confusing and difficult. Treatments are often one size fits all, and don’t consider your age, background or the problems you 
are facing.
Now available
Get the Minding Your Mind app to support your care journey
Researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre have created the ‘Minding Your Mind’ app as a tool to help you understand your mental health and identify patterns, empowering you to discover what works best for you.
Get the info
Learn what you need to get the mental health care you deserve
Books & Publications
Find a list of books & publications developed by the Youth Mental Health and Technology Team to add to your reading list.
Research Opportunities
Check out the research studies we are conducting to see if any are right for you.
Listen to the Podcast
The Minding Your Mind podcast is all about the different types of mental health issues we can experience, their causes, how they affect us, and what we can do to get help and find solutions.
Check out our Lived Experience Lab
Learn more about the Youth Model of Care and our other research projects from young people with Lived Experience.