Kristy Young

Kristy Young is a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse (CMHN) and Family Therapist, with 20 years’ experience in supporting children, adolescents and families to manage mental health difficulties. Kristy places a strong emphasis on the involvement of families when working with young people, and therefore includes family members in the treatment process as much as possible. Kristy holds expertise in the assessment and treatment of severe and complex mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, behavioural problems and relational issues.

Kristy is a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse (CMHN) with the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, and she is thus recognised as a specialist in her field. She is trained as both a general nurse and mental health nurse but has primarily worked in mental health settings. She has been working as a Mental Health Nurse since 2001. 

Kristy has undertaken postgraduate training in mental health and family therapy, completing a Master of Clinical Family Therapy in 2014. She is also trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Radical Emotive Tapping (RET), and Family Based Therapy for the treatment of Eating Disorders (FBT).

Kristy began her career at Austin Health, working across several mental health specialty areas, but predominately at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Kristy worked within the Child and Adolescent inpatient units, holding the role as Nurse Unit Manager in the Child Unit in 2006, and in the Adolescent Unit from 2007 until 2009. She also worked in the Intake/Triage team. She has also had experience working in the field of youth justice, early intervention for children at risk of developing Conduct Disorder, and Mental Health Triage. 

For the past 10 years, Kristy has worked as a Senior Clinician at the Eastern Health Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS), providing case management, individual therapy, parent work and family therapy to young people and their families. The role also included primary and secondary consultation, liaison with schools, and supervision of junior staff. Kristy has most recently commenced a role as a Mental Health Nurse Educator at Eastern Health. 

Kristy has been a recognised and influential figure in the field of Mental Health Nursing over the course of her career. In 2007, she was a finalist in the Hesta Nursing Awards for Innovation, and was awarded the FJ O’Rourke Scholarship, enabling her to undertake a study tour of the USA and UK. Kristy also contributed a chapter to the textbook, Mental Health Nursing: Dimensions of Praxis (Edward, Munro, Robbins, & Welch, 2011).

Kristy values the role of the family strongly and believes that recovery best occurs when it is considered within the context of a person’s relationships with their family or significant others.