Learning & working in youth mental health with Orygen

Demand for youth mental health services continues to grow across the nation – two in five young Australians experience mental ill-health every year. 

Improving access means investing, partnering and responding to community needs on multiple fronts. 

In the first three years of our ongoing partnership, VU and Orygen have achieved progress in expanding youth mental health services in Melbourne’s west. We’re also training the future professional workforce for the region, through placement opportunities and jobs. 

Some of the highlights of our partnership so far:

New Werribee headspace facility with expanded clinical service offering 

In August 2024 the new co-located headspace Werribee and Orygen Specialist Program Wyndham Centre opened. It’s Victoria’s first on-university-campus headspace centre, and offers primary and specialist youth mental health services. 

The new facility has bright, light-filled interiors and a green courtyard – a welcoming space for young people to access support when they need it. 

With this expanded offering and new location, the headspace Werribee team delivered 569 more individual services in the six months after launch (August 2024 – January 2025), compared to the same period the previous year. 

Benefits have been realised for the delivery of services at the Orygen Specialist Program as well. Community Continuing Care Coordinator Kate Wapling said that before the new centre opened at the VU Werribee Campus, Werribee residents had to travel to Sunshine to access Orygen Specialist program services. 

“It often presented a barrier to engagement. The new Werribee Centre has really improved access to services and has been really positive for the young people we see,” Kate said. 

110 student placement & six graduate jobs 

Victoria University is expanding placement opportunities, for practical experience, and graduate employment pathways for VU students. 

Since the partnership began in 2022, 110 VU students have completed placements with Orygen across psychology, nursing, social work, nutrition and dietetics, and six VU alum secured graduate jobs at Orygen after completing placements there in the final year of their course. 

A further 80 students will complete placements by the end of 2025. 

One of these graduates is Tara Cruise, who completed a Bachelor of Social Work at VU and now works at Orygen Specialist Program as a Case Manager. 

“My experience as a VU student on placement at Orygen was extremely valuable and made a massive impact on where I am today. As a clinician and as a former VU student; and, as a ‘Werribee gal’ I am very passionate about this site and feel great pleasure to be part of this wonderful new site,” Tara said. 

Shared initiatives to support youth mental health 

Other shared initiatives include: 

• Workshops in healthy eating and nutrition – Orygen clients have taken part in VU’s 4-week Cooking, Healthy Eating and Wellbeing (CHEW) program by dieticians and nutrition students, with nutritious recipes, menu planning and healthy eating.
• 60 Orygen-run training and professional workshops for VU Student Counselling and Mental Health team members, and ongoing senior clinician support from Orygen for VU counselling and mental health teams, who provide mental heath care and support to VU students.

The partnership continues to strengthen and grow. Jane Laidlaw, Chief Clinical Operations at Orygen, said: 

Orygen see many more opportunities for this partnership to grow in ways that will enable us to continue to support young people’s mental health and achieve VU’s goal to provide high quality education with excellent placement opportunities within the industry of student’s study.” 

Find out more about the partnership.