Background: Headspace is an organisation that works with youth aged 12 to 25 who experience mental ill health. Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health problems, although there are...

Background:

Headspace is an organisation that works with youth aged 12 to 25 who experience mental ill health. Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health problems, although there are many others as well. Youth suicide in regional NSW for the age groups 16 to 24 has been particularly alarming, especially amongst Indigenous youth. One of the problems identified was that a young person with a mental illness might see multiple professionals before getting the help they need. Each time they need to re-tell their ‘story’. Soon the young people clam up and say very little, making it even harder for professionals to help them. Initially they might see a Headspace case worker, then medical staff in a hospital emergency department, perhaps a General Practitioner, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and others.


Currently funding is being sought to build a system that will capture the ‘story’ the first time it is told. This will give access to successive professionals, so that case notes and the story can become enriched, and the young person can be assisted more appropriately. We will assume that the funding has been approved and that you are the business systems analyst assigned to scope out the project