{"id":602875,"date":"2026-04-12T22:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602875\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:25:14","slug":"youth-mental-health-centre-to-close-amid-kiama-council-budget-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/602875\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth mental health centre to close amid Kiama Council budget crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents and mental health professionals on the New South Wales South Coast fear the proposed closure of a youth centre could result in an increase in suicides and leave young people worse off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If they are going to take away an essential service providing mental health assistance for no fee, for anyone to turn up and for someone to listen, then it’s potentially dangerous,” Gerringong mum Penny Rushby-Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her 15-year-old son Felix has accessed Kiama SENTRAL Youth Services over the past three years for help with his transition to high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Established in 1993, the council-owned and operated facility offers free mental health, domestic-violence, homelessness and extra-curricular support to dozens of local teenagers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[Kiama SENTRAL has] been a great option to have another trusted adult that he could get some advice from or turn to if there were some speed bumps along the way,” Ms Rushby-Smith said.<\/p>\n

“And I also feel like, as a parent, I can reach out to those youth workers and ask for a hand as well.”<\/p>\n

\"One-storey<\/p>\n

Free food and life lessons like cooking are some of the services offered by three employees at Kiama’s SENTRAL Youth Services. (ABC Illawarra: Mikayla McGuirk-Scolaro)<\/p>\n

The centre’s doors are likely to close in the coming months after Kiama Council adopted a range of budget cuts to make up for its $4.5 million deficit.<\/p>\n

Council needs to balance its budget by June 2027 under a Performance Improvement Order (PIO) issued by the Office of Local Government (OLG) or face the prospect of administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the cuts are defunding the youth service, reducing library hours, leasing back vehicles and reducing sports field maintenance and non-essential staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The decision is a real kick in the teeth,” Ms Rushby-Smith said.\"Woman<\/p>\n

Mum-of-two Penny Rushby-Smith was among dozens of Kiama ratepayers to protest the council’s proposed budget cuts. (ABC Illawarra: Mikayla McGuirk-Scolaro)<\/p>\n

“This youth service is giving [kids] a place to go. And if they defund that, even as a temporary measure, they lose that relationship with the youth workers \u2026 and you can’t restart that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a series of youth suicides in Kiama. Really tragic. Like you can’t have anything worse in a community.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doctor fearful of impactIf you or anyone you know needs help:Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 551 800Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 22 46 36Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890QLife<\/a> on 1800 184 527<\/p>\n

A former psychologist and youth worker with the NSW Department of Juvenile Justice, Travis Flinn, said he was concerned local suicide rates could grow if the youth centre is shut down and has called on the state government to step in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned this could possibly lead to further suicides,” Dr Flinn said.<\/p>\n

“Taking away young people’s only free support service in their local area is quite a slap in the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A lack of access to youth services is a contributing factor to youth suicide \u2026 as it’s going to add to hopelessness and helplessness, which leads to suicidal thinking.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/p>\n

Kiama, south of Sydney, was decorated with yellow ribbons in 2020 following a spate of suicides. (ABC Illawarra: Ainslie Drewitt-Smith)<\/p>\n

Dr Flinn, a resident of Kiama, said the community was still mourning the loss of five people via suicide within weeks of each other in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Council’s decision ignores the grief this community is carrying and the fear we carry of future suicides,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Flinn said he had seen improvements in clients he had referred to the Kiama SENTRAL Youth Service between 2000 and 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the closure of SENTRAL will reduce mental health services, access to the local Headspace and other privately-run practices remains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three Kiama councillors attempted to address local anger over the proposed budget cuts outside chambers this week.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Mikayla McGuirk-Scolaro)<\/p>\n

Budget pressures\u00a0<\/p>\n

Acting Kiama Mayor Melissa Matters knows all too well the grief of losing someone to suicide, with the death of her 18-year-old son Sam in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He was about to finish his apprenticeship. He had his whole life ahead of him. Had a lot going for him. Good looking boy, strong and personable,” Cr Matters said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Blonde<\/p>\n

The Saving Sammy Foundation, dedicated to suicide awareness and prevention, was set up by Acting Kiama Mayor Melissa Matters following the death of her son.\u00a0 (Supplied: Melissa Matters)<\/p>\n

She was, however, among the majority of councillors who endorsed the plan to cut the youth service’s funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We don’t want those services to close \u2026 But to get a balanced budget, something had to give.<\/p>\n

“And unless someone else can come up with a way, and if the state government wants to come up and support us with that service that to me is health-based, then I’m all for it.”<\/p>\n

The proposed budget plan is set to open for feedback after the council’s ordinary meeting later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents and mental health professionals on the New South Wales South Coast fear the proposed closure of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,101118,22950,138550,293595,514,44,293596,74674,293597],"class_list":{"0":"post-602875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-budget-cuts","11":"tag-budget-deficit","12":"tag-kiama-council","13":"tag-kiama-sentral-youth-service","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-performance-improvement-order","17":"tag-youth-mental-health","18":"tag-youth-suicide"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}