www.headspace.org.nz

Some time ago I stumbled across a very special site set up by the Auckland DHB under the auspices of their outpatient adolescent mental health facility at the Greenlane-based Kari Centre. The website was produced in conjunction with a sibling organisation with more specific links to the central Auckland education sector called LEAP (the Liaison Education Adolescent Project).

Established in 1996, the Kari Centre provides services to under-18-year-olds experiencing moderate to severe mental health problems and also to their families and schools.

While the clinical facility itself is only available to residents of the central Auckland area, their associated "Headspace" website is a great generic resource for adolescent mental healthcare right throughout the Auckland region and also New Zealand.

It is young and very local in its flavour and emphasis and covers quite a wide range of mental health content, in particular, depression, stress and anxiety, self harm, suicide, ADHD, psychosis, bipolar disorder, sex and sexuality, drugs and alcohol and eating problems.

The language of the site is urban, local and friendly: "Kia Ora, Talofa and G'Day! Welcome to Headspace, a website for young people in Auckland and all over New Zealand, as well as their families and schools. Everybody needs to find some headspace when life gets stressful and we hope we can help" is how the site heads up its home page.

There are several references to "the Auckland Survival Kit" and reference is also made specifically to the concerns about New Zealand's high youth suicide rates.
Maori and Pacific mental health issues are also briefly dealt with but further resources are relatively limited for these groups.

There is an extensive range of links (with an overview of each site) to additional non-DHB mental health support services such as Eating Difficulties Education Network (EDEN), Mental Health Foundation, Suicide Prevention Information NZ (SPINZ) and additional youth services (Friendship House, Kidsline, Project K Trust, Rainbow Youth, Students Against Drunk Driving, Youthlaw, URGE, Youthline) and health services such as Family Planning Association, Regional Women's' Centres, Esssentially Men, Living Without Violence, Alateen and also a number of temporary youth accommodation options such as YMCA, YWCA and the Baptist Youth Hostel. There are also links to similar sites to Headspace, for example, Rethink (UK), and @Ease (Taranaki).

The main part of the website offers really great and uncomplicated life-skills tips for dysthymic young people and adolescents - mainly aimed at the ones who perhaps don't realise why they don't feel that great.

There is a big section on "What is Mental Health" which also tries to dispel some of those perpetual myths such as that mental illness is necessarily associated with violence, is uncommon, and "never gets better".

There is a great section on "Distractions" with a really positive list of some 70 ideas to break the low mood cycles and also some cute self-care ideas, for example, "deal with one worry at a time, find a motto for yourself, find a theme song for yourself, try and have a balanced lifestyle, hold on to something like a soft toy and think nice thoughts".

Under "Cool Links" is a fantastic collection of up-to-date youth links covering sex, youth magazines, alcohol, youth health, "girl stuff", teenage issues, events calendars, government links (Ministry of Youth Development, Children's Commissioner), sibling support sites and a range of great overseas youth links. The list is extremely comprehensive and certainly a great recommendation for any of our younger patients with issues to address and time to kill.

There is most importantly a reasonably detailed and authoritative overview with guidance on each of the mental health disorders listed earlier viz depression, stress and anxiety, self harming, suicide, ADHD, psychosis, bipolar disorder, sex and sexuality, drugs and alcohol, and eating problems. There are also some notes on miscellaneous issues such as anger, violence, low self-esteem and grief.

The key with sites such as Headspace is that they really do need to remain up to date and relevant. Having web-management funding and support from the local DHB is a positive step to ensure this website remains as good as it is right now and continues to provide both Auckland and New Zealand youth as a whole with some really helpful mental health life skills, tips and guidance.