Marino Pushes for Youth One-Stop Shop

13 August 2010

Feedback from a recent youth forum held in Bunbury showed that young people in the Forrest electorate aged 12-25 believe a 'one stop shop' providing information and support to assist them with their daily life would be highly beneficial.

Federal Member for Forrest, Nola Marino MP said that as part of the Liberal Government's Real Action Plan for Better Mental Health, the Liberal Party has announced an additional 60 Headspace centres throughout Australia.

Headspace, also know as Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation, is an independent charitable foundation established by the previous Liberal Government and funded by the Commonwealth.

"The latest data shows that young people in the South West are more likely to engage in smoking and participate in risky and harmful drinking than State averages," Nola Marino said.

"They also suffer more high to very high psychological distress and a low sense of control over their lives".

"Given this, I believe Headspace would be a widely valued service in the South West and I will continue work extremely hard to get a Headspace facility for the youth of the South West region," concluded Ms Marino.