Referrals and Redbook Guidelines

Front Yard (young people’s health service)
Free service that focuses on the needs of the homeless or disadvantaged.
Phone: 9977 0077  Website: https://www.mcm.org.au/homelessness/frontyard

Child Abuse Protection Service
Child Protection Services is part of the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH). The Victorian Child Protection Service is specifically targeted to those children and young people at risk of harm and where families are unable or unwilling to protect them.
Phone: 1800 688 009 Website: https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/families-and-children

Medicare
All Australians aged 15 or older can apply for own Medicare card.
Website: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/medicare/medicare-card/getting-your-own-medicare-card

Eating Disorders Victoria
Support, information, community education and advocacy for people with eating disorders and their families in Victoria.
Phone: 1300 550 236 Website: https://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/

Royal Children’s Hospital
1. For Eating Disorders Clinical Nurse consultants phone 9345 6533
2. For Adolescent Medicine Consultant on call phone 9345 5522

Quitline

Phone: 13 7848 Website: https://www.quit.org.au/

YSAS (Youth Support and Advocacy Service)
Outreach teams across Melbourne and regional Victoria for young people experiencing significant problems with alcohol and/or drug use 
Phone: 9415 8881 Website: https://ysas.org.au/  Email: reception@ysas.org.au

Victoria’s Youth Drug and Alcohol Advice service
Provides information and support for youth AOD needs or anyone concerned about a young person.
Website: http://yodaa.org.au/ Phone: 1800 458 685

Sexual Health Victoria (formerly Family Planning Victoria):
Includes guides to sexual and reproductive health & fact sheets.
Website: https://shvic.org.au/ Email: clinic@shvic.org.au Phone: 1800 013 952

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre:
Free, confidential, anonymous, sexual health service, fact sheets and national STI management guidelines.
Website: https://www.mshc.org.au/ Phone: 9341 6200

The Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service:
Website: https://www.rch.org.au/adolescent-medicine/gender-service/
Guidelines for trans and gender diverse adolescents: https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/adolescent-medicine/australian-standards-of-care-and-treatment-guidelines-for-trans-and-gender-diverse-children-

Youthfocus: links to several sites and apps for young people for mental health and relationship issues
Website:  https://youthfocus.com.au/get-help/tools-apps/

ReachOut (online chats and resources):
https://au.reachout.com/

Lifeline: 13 11 14

Suicide HelpLine: 1300 651 251

Beyond Blue youth:
Website: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/young-people  Phone: 1300 224 636

Ask questions regarding current level of activity and sedentary behaviour, and assess against current guidelines

Children aged 5-17 years

• Recommend accumulating 60 minutes of a variety of moderate or vigorous aerobic physical activity per day and muscle strengthening activity three days a week
• Recommend limiting or breaking up sitting time and use of screens to no more than two hours a day

Adults aged 18-64 years

• Recommend doing some activity on most days of the week
• Accumulate 2.5–5 hours of moderate intensity physical activity, 1.25–2.5 hours of vigorous intensity physical activity, or a combination of these per week
• Do muscle strengthening activities at least two days a week
• Avoid prolonged sitting and break up periods of sitting 

• Ask about their interest in quitting
• Advise to stop smoking, agreeing on quit goals and offer pharmacotherapy to all patients smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day unless contraindicated, especially if there is evidence of nicotine dependence
• Offer referral to a proactive telephone call-back cessation service
• Follow up to support maintenance and prevent relapse using self-help or pharmacotherapy

• Advise young people aged 15–17 years to delay drinking as long as possible
• Inform that there is an increased risk of potential harm from drinking
• If drinking alcohol, advise to drink two drinks or less per day, and no more than four drinks on any one occasion

• Asymptomatic young people:
  • Urine, cervical or genital swab polymerase chain reaction (PCR; or self-collected) for chlamydia
  • Consider other infections based on risk assessment
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples:
  • Testing for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis
  • Serology for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), syphilis and, if the person is not vaccinated or immune, hepatitis A and B 
  • Offer hepatitis A and B vaccination
• Men who have sex with men:
  • Urine, throat, and rectal swab for chlamydia PCR
  • Throat and rectal swab for gonorrhoea PCR
  • Serology for HIV, syphilis and, if the person is not vaccinated or immune, hepatitis A and B
• Offer hepatitis A and B vaccinations

• The HEEADSSS tool has questions that can assist in assessing suicide risk. For example:
  • Sometimes when people feel really down, they feel like hurting or even killing themselves. Have you ever felt that way?
  • Have you ever deliberately harmed or injured yourself (eg cutting, burning or putting yourself in unsafe situations, such as unsafe sex)?
  • Do you feel sad or down more than usual? How long have you felt that way?
  • Have you lost interest in things you usually like?
  • On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst you feel and 10 being really great and positive, how would you rate your mood today?
• Online Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10):
  • https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety-and-depression-checklist-K10

BP should be measured in all adults from 18 years of age at least every two years

Sexual health screening as appropriate