15 June 2022
We’re putting the spotlight on mental health in this monthly feature. Learn more about SWSPHN commissioned services, projects and events, and find guidance on navigating the mental health system.
This month we’re highlighting Youth Enhanced Support Service South Western Sydney (YESS-SWS) delivered by Uniting.
What services and supports does your service provide?
The Youth Enhanced Support Service South Western Sydney (YESS-SWS) commissioned by SWSPHN provides care to young people (aged 12 to 25) with, or at risk of, severe and enduring or complex mental health needs which have a significant impact on their day-to-day life.
YESS is a multidisciplinary team which provides comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment, therapeutic intervention and case management. The team includes a psychiatrist, a peer worker and mental health clinicians. YESS provides individual sessions, family work and group programs, and can also connect young people and their families to other support services to deliver wrap around care. The program is designed to provide flexible, medium-term care (typically up to 12 months) at no cost to the young person. Caseloads are capped for each clinician, which means there is a limit to the number of young people each clinician is assigned to, to ensure young people and families accessing the service are provided with comprehensive care tailored to their needs.
The YESS program focuses on young people who would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach with the goal of preventing young people from having to access tertiary level care. This includes consumers whose needs are greater than what headspace and ReFrame can provide but do not meet criteria for tertiary services. YESS facilitates the care of young people through their journey “stepping up and down” on the stepped care continuum.
What are your service locations?
YESS co-locates at headspace centres in Bankstown, Liverpool and Campbelltown as well as ReFrame in Wollondilly and Wingecarribee. The program also provides outreach and telehealth options across South Western Sydney for those who cannot attend centre-based appointments.
What is the eligibility criteria to access your service and are there any targeted supports to specific population groups?
YESS is for young people aged 12-to-25 years old living, working or studying in South Western Sydney who are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, severe and enduring or complex mental health needs and functional impairment. The complexity of their presentation means these young people cannot be managed in a typical primary care setting and would benefit from multidisciplinary team care. Those who are relatively new to mental health services and have not had significant treatment at a greater intensity than YESS provides will be prioritised.
YESS is not suitable for issues which would benefit from a specialist service including; neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, ASD and intellectual disability; disruptive, impulse control and conduct disorders; as well as, eating disorders, psychotic disorders and primary diagnosis of substance use disorder which would require specialist care.
YESS is also not suitable for young people who are; at acute risk of harm to themselves or others, in need of services which would be more appropriately delivered within an acute or hospital setting or by NSW Health community mental health services, eligible for receiving clinical treatment under NDIS or requiring services for legal reports of psychiatry only.
Does your service provide support to people who don’t speak English as a first language?
If a young person meets the eligibility criteria and is accepted into the program, we can provide support to people who don’t speak English as a first language. Depending on their support needs, we may work collaboratively with or refer to external agencies for specialised assistance.
If so, what supports are available?
Where required, young people and their families involved in the YESS program can access free interpreting services. We may also work with or refer to external agencies such as transcultural mental health.
How can people be referred?
The young people or, with the young person’s consent, family, friends or a referrer can make a referral by completing a referral form and emailing to [email protected] or fax to 8820 0737. For enquiries contact 1800 YESS PM (1800 937 776). All referrals are discussed at a YESS intake meeting. If a referral is not suitable for YESS, they can assist in finding the right service.
