To the Editor: We must clarify that the findings of Iorfino and colleagues1 do not apply to headspace clients. This understandable misperception comes from the article’s title, “early intervention mental health services”, and participants coming from “clinics” that “provide both primary care services (headspace) and more specialised services”. Quotes from an InSight+ article2 and the accompanying editorial3 infer that the findings generalise to headspace, but they do not.
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- 1. Iorfino F, Carpenter JS, Cross SPM, et al. Social and occupational outcomes for young people who attend early intervention mental health services: a longitudinal study. Med J Aust 2022; 216: 87–93. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/2/social‐and‐occupational‐outcomes‐young‐people‐who‐attend‐early‐intervention
- 2. Colyer S. Youth mental health services a front door to “nowhere”. InSight+ 2021; 8 Nov. https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2021/42/youth‐mental‐health‐services‐a‐front‐door‐to‐nowhere (viewed Feb 2022).
- 3. McGorry PD. The reality of mental health care for young people, and the urgent need for solutions. Med J Aust 2021; 216: https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51327. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/2/reality‐mental‐health‐care‐young‐people‐and‐urgent‐need‐solutions
- 4. Rickwood DJ, Telford N, Mazzer K, et al. Changes in psychological distress and psychosocial functioning for young people accessing headspace centres for mental health problems. Med J Aust 2015; 202: 537–542. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/202/10/changes‐psychological‐distress‐and‐psychosocial‐functioning‐young‐people
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