Mental Health Coordinating Council’s submission calls for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing to be recognised as central to children and young people’s safety, development, participation and long-term wellbeing.

What it’s about

Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC) has provided a submission in response to the consultation paper on the next NSW Strategic Plan for Children and Young People 2027–2030, calling for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing to be treated as core to children and young people’s safety, development, participation and long-term wellbeing.

We call for stronger investment in accessible, community-based, culturally safe and youth-specific supports, and aim to ensure the final Plan addresses service gaps, improves pathways, and embeds young people’s voices and rights.

Background

The NSW Office for Youth is developing a new whole-of-government Strategic Plan for Children and Young People aged 0–24 across NSW from 2027 to 2030. The consultation paper asked children and young people, families, services, peak bodies and communities to share what issues, priorities and actions should shape the final Plan.

Why this matters

Children and young people are experiencing pressures on their mental health, wellbeing, safety, social connection and ability to take part in everyday life. For those with mental health and psychosocial support needs, these pressures are often compounded by disconnected services, rigid eligibility criteria, and difficulty accessing timely, culturally safe and age-appropriate supports.

Key issues

• Young people with moderate to severe mental health and psychosocial needs continue to fall through gaps between early intervention, community-based and crisis services.
• Strict age cut-offs, diagnostic thresholds and eligibility rules can leave young people without support at critical points in their lives.
• Community-managed, youth-specific psychosocial supports are underfunded, including peer work, outreach, system navigation and step-up/step-down alternatives to hospital.
• Services are still too fragmented and hard to navigate, often leaving young people, families and carers to piece support together themselves.
• The Strategic Plan needs to better reflect the experiences of First Nations children and young people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ young people, neurodivergent young people, young people living with disability, and those in rural and remote areas.
• The Plan should include stronger outcomes, data and evaluation mechanisms to track whether it is improving young people’s lives.

Our recommendations

MHCC recommends action in several key areas:

• Advocate for community-embedded psychosocial supports as essential infrastructure
  Ensure Safe, Flexible and Navigable Service Pathways.
• Advocate for holistic wellbeing models that integrate psychosocial, clinical, housing, education, and employment supports.
• Embed Youth Voice Through Co-Design, Lived Experience and Identity-Affirming Practice.
• Overarching Principles of Practice that are human rights-based, recognise trauma, abuse, neglect and exposure to violence.
• Set clear outcomes, data measures and evaluation processes to track progress and strengthen accountability.

What happens next

The NSW Office for Youth is expected to review feedback from the consultation, prepare a “What we heard” summary, and use this input to shape the final NSW Strategic Plan for Children and Young People 2027–2030, due later in 2026. MHCC will keep members updated as the Plan develops.