Youth + Family

The Junction has general practitioners who can provide primary health care including, but not limited to chronic disease management, wound care and dressings, sexual health care, mental health care, assessments, education and referrals.

All children and young people under 18 are encouraged to make appointments with a paediatrics registrar, unless they have highly complex needs or the paediatrics registrar is unavailable. Paediatric registrars provide the same services as a GP and are provided to The Junction by Canberra Hospital.

Our nurse provides blood tests, pregnancy tests, immunisations, STI screenings, pap smears, discussion about pregnancy options, contraception, Implanon insertion and removal, and child health checks if the paediatrics registrar is unavailable.

Our nurse practitioner provides the same services as our nurses but also offers antenatal care, prescribing for acute illnesses, continuing prescriptions for ongoing illnesses and mental health care plans.

Our counsellors provide a safe place for young people to explore any issue they are experiencing and help to come up with strategies for dealing with these issues.

Our counsellors can help clients work through issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, sleeping difficulties, school issues and bullying, relationships, alcohol and other drug use, addictive behaviours, changing unwanted behaviours and just wanting to someone to talk to.

During The Junction’s opening hours, there is always a youth worker available who young people can just drop in to see for support about any issue. Youth workers often help young people with budgeting, emergency relief, Centrelink, housing, advocacy, getting a birth certificate or filling out paperwork.

The Junction runs small group programs in schools and other services about health-related topics. The groups are tailored to the needs of the participants and topics can include healthy relationships, body confidence, mental health, contraception, sexually transmitted infections and alcohol and other drugs.

The youth workers also provide an outreach service that includes transporting young people to and from their healthcare appointments and supporting them to access other services like Centrelink and ACT Housing.

The Canberra Hospital Antenatal Clinic provides the Step Ahead program for pregnant clients of The Junction. Through the program, clients can access a midwife and a social worker for antenatal check-ups, referral and advocacy including housing support, parenting support and education.

The Cancer Council of ACT offers the Smoking Cessation Clinic, which gives clients access to free nicotine replacement therapy, counselling and support to cease or change smoking habits to improve health outcomes. This clinic is by appointment only.