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Youth rehab for under-18s on the cards for Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Headshot of Tegan Guthrie
Tegan GuthrieKalgoorlie Miner
Goldfields Rehabilitation Services’ Stephanie James and Pamela Mauchaza.
Camera IconGoldfields Rehabilitation Services’ Stephanie James and Pamela Mauchaza. Credit: Amber Lilley/Kalgoorlie Miner

A multi-million-dollar youth rehabilitation centre to help young people tackle addiction and mental health issues early is on the cards for Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Goldfields Rehabilitation Services is campaigning for community feedback and support for its proposed $5.5 million youth rehab which would open the doors for vital addiction and mental health support for youth aged under-18.

The service, which currently operates a 18-bed adult rehab and four-bed detox facility, is hoping to gain support for the eight to 10-bed youth facility to help its chances of securing State or Federal funding.

With many of the adult rehab residents mentioning their addiction to drugs or alcohol began at a young age, and may have been triggered by childhood trauma, executive manager Jane Fajardo said it was important there was a service that offered clinical, medical and educational support in those early years.

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“If there is help available early, I 100 per cent believe it will make a big difference in many people’s lives and help reduce the number of people with ongoing addiction and struggles later in life,” she said.

As well as helping to provide youth with the tools to address addictive behaviours early, Ms Fajardo said the program would also provide mental health support.

“You cannot separate addiction from mental health,” she said.

“Especially with young people, you cannot always identify if the mental health or the addiction comes first ... so we will target more of the mental health and then the addiction.

“It would be a voluntary program, unless court-mandated, so they could leave at any point ... and we want to have a strong focus on education and training as well as clinical and medical support.”

The service would not be limited to a minimum age requirement, with Ms Fajardo saying youth should not be excluded from getting support for simply being a few months shy of a required age.

While a 13-week residential program will be available, Ms Fajardo said each young person would be assessed individually, with appropriate treatment plans developed on a case-by-case basis.

It will also be a trauma-informed recovery model, like the adult rehab, but be family-inclusive to allow family to heal with the young person and support them on their journey.

“Family can come and stay with the young person for a certain period and we will treat the family, not just the young person,” she said.

“It is a place for them to be safe and to heal as a family.

“If mum and dad are using, sometimes you cannot change the parents, but you can definitely educate the child and this is our aim.”

While the centre would be open for all young people, Ms Fajardo said the main target was to support youth in the Goldfields region as a priority.

With the business model almost complete and a builder and design plan ready to go, Ms Fajardo said the service just needed the money to get the project under way.

“We would like the support of the community because we believe this will make a big difference to every family who is struggling,” she said.

“We want to hear the community’s feedback, their suggestions and their messages of support if they want to see this project developed.”

To find out more or share your thoughts, email admin@grsi.org.au.

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