Life-saving WOKE program to lose funding

The WOKE program, run by psychology masters students at the University of Canberra, has 73 clients on the waitlist but will be forced to close without $300,000 per year in funding.

The program uses dialectical behaviour therapy to treat young people aged 14 to 21 years who experience self-harming behaviour, suicidal ideation and early signs of borderline personality disorder.

The program's clinical lead Dr Dean Buckmaster said the program was unique because it was based in a university clinical psychology training program.

"There's a definite shortfall for the community in terms of access to these programs," Dr Buckmaster said.

"Another part of the mission for us was that there's a whole workforce that we're training that just aren't prepared to work with this level of complexity. And we wanted to be on the right side of that and make sure we were training the next generation of psychologists."

The program starts with an initial assessment and goal-setting phase to prepare the clients to enter the 14-week program.

The clients do individual therapy and attend a weekly skills group with their parents where they learn problem-solving strategies to help regulate their strong emotions. The program is free for clients to attend.

It is a popular work placement with the clinical psychology masters students. Dr Buckmaster said some students have moved interstate specifically for the WOKE program.

"It's a therapy designed for complexity so it's not easy to get access to. The students get ongoing training in that therapy. They get weekly supervision. They often talk about how much it has helped them professionally and personally themselves."

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Youth Coalition of the ACT chief executive Dr Justin Barker said the program filled a vital gap in Canberra's mental health system, often referred to as the "missing middle".

"About 30 per cent of young people are purposefully hurting themselves in Australia. One-in-three kids are self-harming, and we're going to get rid of one of the only evidence-based programs we have that help address these behaviours," Dr Barker said.

"It's really unique because it works with kids who have very complex needs ... but it also works with their parents. So it means that when these kids go back to the family home, both the parents and the kids, after doing this group work program, are armed with these tools to make sure that we can address their mental health issues."

The Coalition's number one ask in its submission for the ACT 2023-24 budget was for the ACT government to give the WOKE program a funding lifeline of at least $300,000.

"This is a Canberra-born, Canberra-bred program made by UC with UC psychologists," Dr Barker said.

"We know that it works. It hardly costs anything. If anything it needs to be bigger."

The WOKE program was funded from July 2019 to June 2023 with federal government money via the Capital Health Network.

Capital Health Network chief executive Megan Cahill said it was a time-limited Commonwealth grant and the network had made representations to the ACT government to fund the program.

ACT Mental Health Minister Emma Davidson would not say if the territory would fund the program from June.

"Though it was not our decision to cut the funding for WOKE, the ACT government and I remain committed to advocating to the Capital Health Network and Commonwealth government and working with them to support our community in accessing mental health services and programs," Ms Davidson said.

"Opportunities to support WOKE, which provides such an important and unique service, will continue to be explored."

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