With planning for a new more than $1 billion northside hospital well underway, the first of several services currently based at the North Canberra Hospital campus will be relocated to make way for future demolition works.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) the ‘Cottage’ program will move to Canberra’s south and benefit from a new purpose-built facility in Lyons.
The Cottage is a day program for young people with moderate to severe mental health issues that impact their ability to attend school. The program has been successful in supporting young people to make functional gains, and build their confidence and capacity to return to school or vocational programs.
The planned relocation of the Cottage represents the first step needed to prepare this site for demolition and then construction of a new northside hospital, this work is part of the northside hospital enabling works which received a $27.5 million investment in the 2024-25 ACT Budget.
Now the first procurement process for the Northside Hospital Project is complete. Billard Leece Partnership Pty Ltd has been appointed as the successful tenderer and design partner for the new CAMHS facility on the Lyons site.
Over the past year, the ACT Health Directorate has been working with clinical services on the North Canberra Hospital campus to understand current and future accommodation needs and explore suitable alternative locations for those services that will have to move over the next few years.
Billard Leece Partnership Pty Ltd will now progress the detailed design of the new CAMHS facility so that it supports the needs of staff, patients and their families.
More information on the Northside Hospital Project is at builtforcbr.act.gov.au.
Minister for Mental Health Emma Davidson:
Community-based models of care ensure Canberrans have access to support they need when and where they need it.
The relocation of The Cottage to Lyons will be more accessible for young people with a mental illness. This will be a more appropriate setting than being on a hospital campus for a community mental health service supporting transition back to school. The new location is in an area already familiar to many of us who live nearby as a nurturing environment for children and young people, with schools, after-school recreation activities, and other services nearby.
The CAMHS Childhood Early Intervention Program and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Program will also relocate. This first of these programs is delivered through the school system to support schools and families with identifying and responding to early signs of mental health issues in primary aged children, and the second is an intensive individual and group therapeutic intervention for young people presenting with moderate to severe mental health issues.
We look forward to working closely with staff, clinicians and consumers to help us design this new facility.
This media releases was originally published on the ACT Government website.