Community services across the country are struggling to support the number of people facing issues that range from homelessness to depression.
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"In most community services you could double the funding and there still wouldn't be enough to meet the need," headspace Bega manager Brianna Armstead said.
Speaking at the headspace Day event in Littleton Gardens, Bega on Wednesday, she said at her centre the wait time to see a mental health clinician was four weeks.
But she said this was "not too bad" compared to other centres in the country where people had to wait 12 weeks before before being able to access a clinician due to the high demand.
At her centre, even if they could not access a clinician in those four weeks the young person would be in contact with the intake officer.
Ms Armstead said currently the major issues affecting young people's mental health are anxiety and depression while family problems and bullying are also common.
headspace opened in Bega last December and the number of young people who have accessed the service since then is about 400.
"I think it probably exceeded our expectations in the first year," Ms Armstead said.
Compared to the national average the Bega centre sees a higher percentage of Indigenous Australians (15 per cent) and young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Ms Armstead believed this was the case partly because the Bega Valley had a higher population of Indigenous Australians compared to the national average and also because of the lack of other services in the Bega Valley.
She had become concerned homelessness was an major issue in the Bega Valley that was often brushed aside.
"If we have a young person who is homeless, there is nothing we can do," she said.
"There's no houses here, SEWACS [South East Women And Children Services] have a youth homelessness service but the closest emergency accommodation for young people is in Moruya.
"Rental accommodation is so expensive and people don't rent to young people."
She said in order to make a change and start reducing the rates of homelessness the community needed to start talking about the issue more.
"I think pretending that it doesn't exist is not working," Ms Armstead said.
"Refuge accommodation isn't always the best for everyone, but you need to have a place where people can go."
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
