The Andrews Labor Government is giving Victorian families seeking specialised mental health care, better access to support and treatment when the state’s first child and family centre opens in coming months.

Minister for Mental Health Gabrielle Williams today toured the new 12-bed centre located in Macleod, delivering vital residential mental health and wellbeing treatment to children under 11 in an environment that allows them to stay with and be supported by their families.

The $7.3 million centre will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week which will allow up to three families to stay onsite at one time, while they receive flexible, family-centred therapy and support from specialist clinicians.

The service will provide early intervention to children and their families with access to treatment, care and support in a safe and supportive residential setting. The centre is focused on the needs of children and families who have experienced trauma and require additional support.

Designed to create a safe, welcoming and healing atmosphere for children and their families, the centre features private rooms and shared living spaces including communal kitchen, dining, lounge, laundry and family activity areas, outdoor garden areas, along with clinical consulting areas.

The new centre responds to key recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System to provide more tailored models of care. Services with an early intervention focus are designed to support children and prevent their mental health challenges from escalating and becoming more complex.

The project was delivered by the Victorian Health Building Authority in partnership with Austin Health and Building Engineering.

The Victorian Budget 2023/24 invested more than $41 million over two years to support children, young people, and their families.

The Labor Government has invested over $6 billion in mental health and wellbeing over the last three years – the largest investment in mental health in Victoria’s history – with work underway on 90 per cent of Royal Commission recommendations.