We can all become anxious and depressed at various times in our life, and this can start to affect how we function and cope. The Next Step program can help you work through difficult times in your life that impact the way you function day to day.

What is Next Step?

Next Step is a free, confidential, and evidence-based psychological support service which aims to improve access to treatment for people experiencing anxiety and/or depression. Next Steps gives people evidence-based strategies to apply in their daily life tailored to their individual needs.

Some examples of what you can work on in the Next Step program include:

• Frequent feelings of anxiety in social or work settings.
• Feelings of constant or pervasive worry.
• Low mood or feelings of depression.
• Processing intrusive thoughts or traumatic memories.
• Strategies to reduce panic attacks or specific phobias.

Low Intensity Therapy

Low Intensity Therapy is a short-term intensive program that uses CBT to help you work through problems you may be experiencing. A low intensity clinician can help you work through problems such as mild anxiety, depression, and day to day life stress. You can self-refer to the Low Intensity service without a mental health care plan. You can access up to six coaching sessions and if you find that you need more than this number of sessions you can speak with your coach about the other options available to support your mental health, which may include our high intensity therapy.

High Intensity Therapy

If you are experiencing moderate to severe symptoms, you may be linked with High Intensity Therapy. This program builds off the low intensity coaching model, providing more intensive psychological therapy over six to eighteen sessions (dependent on your individual needs). Therapy is delivered by accredited cognitive behavioural therapy clinicians. This support is available to any age group.

Cool Kids Anxiety Program

Developed by the Macquarie University, Cool Kids and Cool Little Kids is a group program for children who are experiencing anxiety. The program uses CBT to help children and their carers to better understand anxiety and develop strategies to manage their anxiety, with a focus on teaching practical skills.

We offer the 6 session Cool Little Kids program to parents of shy or anxious 3–6-year-olds. Sessions are held on Teams for the convenience of parents.

We offer the Cool Kids program to children (aged 7-12 years old) and their carers. This gives both parents and kids strategies to manage anxiety and worry. The group runs over 9 sessions during the school terms.

How do I know if I’m eligible?

To be eligible for Next Step you need to:

• Live, work or study in the ACT
• Be experiencing depression and/or anxiety, or experiencing stress that is impacting your life
• Not currently accessing other psychological intervention services
• For high intensity therapy you should not be engaged in any other psychological treatment

What Next?

Self-Referral

If you would like to access our coaching program or don’t know which service is best suited for your needs, please contact our team on: Phone (02) 6162 6111  (during business hours); or email [email protected]

Alternatively, you can speak to your GP about the Next Step Program. For High Intensity Therapy, individuals require a GP referral including a Mental Health Treatment Plan and completed referral form (see below). Once we have received these documents from your GP the intake team will contact you about the next steps.

Referrers – If you are a medical professional who wishes to refer to the Next Step Service, please click on the link below to refer your client.

Referral Form (mayden.com.au)

Please note that Next Step is not a crisis service. If you need emergency

assistance please contact Emergency Services on 000 or the Access

Mental Health team on 1800 629 354.

Next Step is funded by the Capital Health Network.