The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the mental health crisis among children and adolescents, straining access to specialist care. Community clinicians, often the first point of contact, faced increased responsibility without adequate training or support.
In response, the Royal Children’s Hospital and the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network co-developed an innovative model designed to improve community-based care, as well as reduce unnecessary referrals and bolster clinical decision-making and complex case management.
Authors of the latest Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research Perspectives Brief, Enhancing Community Clinician Confidence in Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Insights from the COMPASS Collaborative Model, provides a holistic overview of the COMPASS model’s implementation and outcomes. It further proposes to scale the applications of the model nationally, as its current successes aligns with state and national mental health strategies, including recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System Final Report.