Tell them they're dreaming: work, education and young people with mental illness in Australia

This report examines the employment and welfare system in relation to young people with mental illness and education and employment. It makes a number of recommendations which the authors hope will allow people at the outset of a mental illness to not lose their dreams of the future, but to turn them to reality with all the individual, societal and economic benefit that will bring. 

This report presents a number of recommendations outlining the key steps to helping young people with mental illness realise their employment and educational goals including.

• Fund high fidelity IPS employment and education services to be provided to young people presenting to headspace centres around Australia.
• Use the headspace national dataset to capture the data about an integrated model and use this to evaluate and refine the provision of these services.
• Expand IPS services into mainstream community mental health services for all mental health consumers who wish to work or return to study.
• Develop anti-stigma campaigns targeting employers, families, young people and primary care providers to break down attitudes that imply that young people with mental illness cannot or should not work.
• Educate mental health clinicians about the importance of employment and education as a part of, not the product of, recovery.
• Through the provision of comprehensive early intervention services that address both symptomatic and functional needs, provide a viable pathway to return to employment and education.