Head to Health Tender

⁠⁠⁠Head to Health is a Commonwealth initiative in adult mental health support that seeks to address the complexity of the mental health system and ensure that adults who require mental health support at any level can be connected to appropriate, effective, and well-integrated services.

Through this tender, Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN are seeking to commission service provider/s to deliver the following three Head to Health services in the region:
The Assessment and Referral Phone Service, which will promote consistent triage and enable transfer and warm referral to the most appropriate mental health services; and
A Head to Health adult mental health centre in Ipswich and satellite in Kingaroy, both of which will provide welcoming, soft entries to engagement with services through assessment, triage, warm referrals, and immediate, short- and medium-term mental health support, particularly for people who may be experiencing crisis or significant distress.
Through this tender, organisations can apply to deliver any single, or any combination of two or three of these Head to Health services. Consortium applications for these services are also welcomed.
Planning for these services has already commenced in close partnership with co-design groups in Ipswich and Kingaroy, and it is expected that the commissioned provider/s will continue the co-design of these services throughout development, implementation, and ongoing delivery of the services.

It is expected that the successful provider/s for the Assessment and Referral Phone Service will continue cohesive operations of the service, which is currently available in the region, from the 1 July 2023. The successful provider/s for the Ipswich Centre and Kingaroy Satellite will also commence service development upon contract execution, for a launch of services in Quarter One of Financial Year 2023/24.

The Tender Guidelines provided outline the key requirements for these services, including the need for the successful provider/s to demonstrate their capacity to deliver appropriate mental health support, and partner genuinely and collaboratively with local stakeholders to ensure services are strongly integrated, and are tailored to the needs of communities.