Ric’s story: bringing psychiatry to headspace Collingwood
Before Ric Haslam arrived at headspace Collingwood, the service hadn’t had a psychiatrist for a number of years. As a medical specialist there, he supports the service’s clinicians and the day-to-day work of supporting young people aged 12–25 with their mental health.
“My door is open, and clinicians will come in with questions or problems,” Ric says. “I’ve probably brought some clarity around simplifying or diagnosing, helping clinicians understand what might be going on so they can make decisions about what to do.”
With years of experience working with young people who are acutely or chronically unwell, Ric brings a calm and grounded presence to the team.
“I don’t have all the answers, but just talking it through with someone who has been there can be useful,” he says.
Ric’s background is in paediatrics and child and adolescent psychiatry. Most of his career was spent in hospitals, where the medical model dominates. Coming to headspace Collingwood was a change — one that’s pushed him to blend his medical lens with a more holistic understanding of mental health.
“When I came here, my language was very clinical and much more about diagnosis,” he says. “Coming to YSAS, we talk as much about ‘practice’ as ‘clinical’, so it’s been a bit of a journey since I got here combining those languages. But I’ve always been open to that more mental health systems framework.”
One of Ric’s biggest contributions has been helping develop new service pathways — including a new ADHD pathway designed to make diagnosis and treatment more accessible. Many headspace clients, he says, show signs of ADHD but can’t afford the high costs of private assessments.
“For those young people, they are usually very distractible, so they have huge difficulties with concentration at work and with study and assessments,” he says. Through the new pathway, Ric and headspace’s GPs and clinicians can support young people to get accurately diagnosed and treated with both medication and psychosocial supports.
During his first few months, Ric helped eight young people receive a diagnosis and treatment. “All of those that we started on medication had a really good response, and there was a lot of gratefulness,” he says.
“Many of them will describe with medication, their brain is a lot clearer and calmer, and they can just lock in.”
Ric has also helped Damian Philp the Clinical Team Leader at headspace Collingwood to bring in the Single Session Model — a new approach ensuring every young person at headspace Collingwood can access a session within weeks of first contacting the service. It’s designed to cut wait times and give young people more immediate support.
“The clinicians have really taken to it, and the clients on the whole find it fantastic,” Ric says. Sessions often focus on small, tangible actions that can make a big difference. “For example, for people with low mood and anxiety, doing regular exercise – just 20 minutes four times a week – is shown to help,” he says. “It can be quite simple, but young people have forgotten that when they used to do X, they felt better.”
After a year and a half in the role, Ric says he’s loved being part of a dynamic, forward-thinking team. “In this short time, we’ve introduced single sessions, brought new staff on board, developed new training sessions and the ADHD pathway,” he says. “There’s a lot of flexibility and opportunities to do things a bit differently here.”
And for Ric, the real reward is setting young people on a path to recovery and being there for his colleagues. “If clinicians have got questions that are coming to me, that’s pretty satisfying, and hopefully useful for them as well.”