The mental health and wellbeing support organisation, says it will expand its current programs and increase its workforce in Lithgow, thanks to a grant awarded to Marathon Health in the latest round of the Australian Government's Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program which began in 2021.

The Minister for Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel and the Minister for Calare, Andrew Gee, says the nearly three quarters of a million dollars will allow headspace to establish the Lithgow Family Support Program, and employ a specialist Family Support Worker to deliver training to parents and carers, as well as siblings of young people experiencing tough times.

"headspace in Lithgow provides trusted vital services to help support young people when they most need it. The professionals here experienced a surge in demand from young people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by fire, as well as those deeply distressed by the devastating Black Summer bushfires," he said.

"It's clear to see the unsettling and worrying impact the fires had, and continued to have on our young residents. I commend them for reaching out to headspace for assistance," he said.

Lithgow headspace clinical manager Bonnie Bassett will oversee the program's implementation and operations to ensure it addresses any unresolved mental health conditions relating to bushfires and supports families who have, until now, experienced difficulty finding services to suit their loved young relative.

"Lithgow desperately needs this Family Support Program. We know that many local families feel overwhelmed and simply cannot find services or resources to help them support young people facing tough times. This project will support families by helping to build their knowledge, techniques and practical skills to assist those most at risk," Ms Bassett said.

"At the moment we just haven't had the resources to provide this type of service, we we're hoping to be able to provide some one on one support, as well as like skills based groups.

"A new family support worker will be tremendous resource to our Lithgow service. They will work with families to devise individualised support plans, deliver workshops and educational sessions, build a support network for carers and parents and build community resilience to cope with emotional responses to any future disaster."

Demand for assistance for young people more than doubled between 2019-20 and 2020-21 with more than 400 people aged between 12 and 17 reaching out for help in 2020-21 compared to 162 the previous year.

Team lead marketing and communications for Marathon Health in Lithgow Emily Roberts said Lithgow is the "golden child" of these types of programs.

"This program that they're running is a first for headspace, it definitely is in the Central West. Having family group therapy is a first because they've never had a dedicated resource to it before. So it's a really new program and we're excited to see how it goes," she said.

Ms Bassett said there was a clear demand for this service and on behalf of headspace Lithgow and Marathon Health, she wanted to thank the Australian Government for this funding that will allow them to expand their service offerings to best help Lithgow's young residents and their families.

"We will now start recruiting to fill these positions so we can hit the ground running and start helping those who need it most. I envisage we will be in a position to start delivering workshops and training sessions within months," she said.

Ms Bassett said this program is something parents in Lithgow have been asking for.

"Data shows that when parents are involved in the young person's care, that results of that person, their wellbeing improving is improved by heaps," she said.

While a child or sibling is seeing someone, the site hopes to "kill two birds with one stone" and have an appointment for the parent or sibling to see someone at the same time, to save them from having to go to different places.

"We're hoping we see that bring an increase of people using the service. We will hire an additional intake worker, just so things don't bottleneck at the beginning. So it can be quick and seamless," she said.

Lithgow headspace currently has two provisional psychologists who work full time, two psychologists who work one day each, one drug and alcohol worker one day a week. A part time community engagement officer and a part time administration worker. They also have a psychiatrist and a GP who attends one day a fortnight.

Bonnie who has worked at headpsace Lithgow since it opened said she was thankful she worked somewhere so meaningful.

"Something that is just wonderful about Lithgow is mental health is something that is at the forefront of a lot of places here," she said.

"A lot of people with a lot of passion worked really hard to get headspace here and we are able to continue to support not just the young people but anyone going through mental health issue."

The funding builds on the $326,675 grant through the Federal Government's Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund awarded last year.

Mr Gee said that ever since they got a headspace in Lithgow, they've been trying to build these services.

"We need to give headspace the resources it needs to keep going with the life changing work, transformational work that can change people's lives that is clearly needed in this area," he said.

"The staff here at headspace, Lithgow are incredibly caring and it's inspirational to hear the difference that they are making to people's lives here locally, so we want to keep that good work going.

"I want to thank all the staff here at headspace, they are our community heroes there's no doubt about that and I'm just delighted that we can partner with them to help their wonderful work to keep going."

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