A recently published Orygen Global report highlights the value of peer and volunteer-led mental health support through the headspace Denmark model. Over the last 15 years, many countries have developed their own models of youth mental health care. Initiatives such as headspace in Australia and Foundry in Canada have become widely recognised examples of youth hubs that provide integrated mental health support. These models have proven effective in high-resource settings, but they are often difficult to implement in regions with fewer resources and limited access to specialist youth mental health professionals.
To address this challenge, Orygen Global has been leading an initiative to better understand low-intensity and early intervention approaches. Their recent report, A low-intensity, low-cost model for youth mental health: The headspace Denmark approach, describes how young people in Denmark are benefitting from accessible, early intervention services that require fewer resources while still delivering meaningful support. This work highlights how innovative models can be adapted across different contexts worldwide.
At YOUTHreach (funded by the European Union under grant number 101156514), we are studying a diverse network of walk-in youth mental health centres across Europe and beyond. These include headspace in Australia, @ease in the Netherlands, soulspace in Germany, Jigsaw in Ireland, Peaasi in Estonia, PAUSE in the UK, and the Centro Psicosociale Giovani in Italy. In Spain, a new centre will be established, drawing inspiration from these successful models. All of these centres share the same goal: providing a youth-friendly first point of contact, where young people can seek support early, without stigma or long waiting times.
One of the examples highlighted in the recent Orygen Global report is @ease in the Netherlands, which has been inspired by the headspace models in Australia and Denmark. By offering peer- and volunteer-led support, @ease provides a safe and approachable first step towards care. It demonstrates how low-intensity, community-based support can be shaped after proven international approaches and embedded locally to truly meet young people where they are.
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