Medicare Mental Health Kids Hubs provide a welcoming place for children and their families, carers and kin to access support for healthy development and social and emotional wellbeing. As Kids Hubs open across the country, more people will be able to access care through Medicare Mental Health. It means our youngest Australians can access supports and services suited to their needs and goals, for free and without a referral.
We worked with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (the Department) to extend the Medicare Mental Health brand, bringing in brighter colours, a child-like font and imagery style that resonate strongly with children and families.
We’d worked with the Department to design the Medicare Mental Health identity, and had focused on ensuring the brand resonated with grown ups seeking mental health care. This time, we needed to create something that felt welcoming and calming for children – a brand and a space designed for them.
Working alongside Hall & Partners, we tested a range of service names, concepts and visual approaches with families, carers and providers, exploring how different ways of framing the service would influence understanding, trust and willingness to engage. Their feedback informed a flexible, warm and colourful brand that would be easy to adopt across a national network of services.
We focused on clear, straightforward language to ensure the service was easy to understand and navigate, with designs built to support everything from signage and interiors through to digital tools and community comms. Together, these elements created a brand that could scale nationally, while still feeling approachable and grounded in the needs of children and families.
At their core, Medicare Mental Health Kids Hubs are a place to turn when a child is feeling anxious or overwhelmed, struggling with friendships, or finding it hard to manage their emotions or behaviour.
As Assistant Minister Emma McBride said, the Kids Hubs are about making support easier to access: “We know that early intervention is crucial, and that’s why we’re removing all barriers to accessing support.”
By making that first step feel safer and more accessible, the service helps families engage earlier, before challenges escalate.
Medicare Mental Health Kids Hubs are opening in communities across the country, including Illawarra, Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Midland, Adelaide and across Tasmania. There are more to come across all states and territories. For more information, or to find your nearest Kids Hub, visit medicarementalhealth.gov.au/kidshubs.
If you’re interested in our work with Medicare Mental Health, we’ve also shared our reflections on the launch of Medicare Mental Health Centres, and the new Medicare Mental Health Check In service.
