WA Primary Health Alliance, alongside seven other Primary Health Networks, has partnered with The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre on a new project Right care, first time, where you live, empowering communities to bring together their youth mental healthcare system in a way that works for them.
Right care, first time, where you live connects researchers and communities so they can work together to develop tools using systems models that put national, data-driven evidence into a local context.
Working with Brain and Mind Centre, we will be co-developing decision-support tools using systems modelling and simulation to guide investments in sustained, coordinated and digitally enhanced youth mental health care.
Systems modelling and simulation allow us to forecast the mental health path we are on at national and local levels and to predict the impact of different combinations of mental health interventions over time, before investing significant time and resources.
WA Primary Health Alliance’s Country Operations Manager – North, Jodie Green, said the program is unique in that it is not only using large datasets, but the Brain and Mind Centre team will be going out to the communities to co-develop the models with them.
“We want to see our young people thriving in their communities and ensuring they have the right mental health support available to them is vital.
“Right care, first time, where you live will be working closely with local communities to ensure the end model can be used in a meaningful way for the community and be a useful tool they can use into the future to improve health outcomes, she said.
Eight program sites across Australia have been selected for the five-year program, including the Pilbara and Great Southern regions in Western Australia which will go live in 2025.
The evidence gathered by these program sites will not only give communities the evidence they need to allocate local resources and funding in a targeted way, but also act as a national blueprint for communities throughout Australia.
Find out more about our work in mental health and the Right care, first time, where you live project.