The Monash Children’s Hospital, opened in March 2017, is the third largest provider of specialised paediatric services in Australia. The Monash Children's Hospital has 230 beds supported by four new operating theatres and one procedure room. This additional capacity enables the hospital to treat 7,000 more children each year.

The Victorian Government committed $14.6 million in the 2016 State Budget for a new Early in Life Mental Health Service (ELMHS) facility to be located within the Monash Children’s Hospital. The integration of a 20-bed Early in Life Mental Health Service (known as Stepping Stones Adolescent Inpatient Unit) co-located with a new eight-bed Children's Neurodevelopment Unit means Monash Health can now deliver even better paediatric services to a growing population in the south east of Victoria.

Children experiencing mental health issues, and their families, require specialised services and support. In the Victorian Budget 2017-18 there has been significant investment in mental health, connected to the election commitment of a 10 Year Mental Health Plan for Victoria.

One of the aims of the 10 Year Mental Health Plan is to improve mental health early in life so that infants, children, young people and their families are supported to develop the life skills and abilities to manage their own health.

Monash Health has a range of mental health initiatives focused on children and young people including:

• Child Clinical Specialist: Improving the leadership and responsiveness in engaging, assessing and treating children (aged 0 to 12 years) with behaviour disorders linked to mental illness such as conduct disorder, depression and anxiety.
• Expanded Child Clinical Services: Increased funding to child clinical services (0-12 years) will provide treatment and care to children who are experiencing significant disruptive behaviour disorders, with priority given to Aboriginal children and their families.
• Operational Bed Funding (Child and Youth Mental Health): An eight-bed statewide Neurodevelopmental Service (0-12 year olds) inpatient unit which will be called the ‘Oasis’. These beds will focus on children with complex developmental problems like autism or intellectual disability combined with social and relational challenges that result in extreme behavioural problems and provide crisis admissions.

Funds for this initiative were allocated in the 2016 State Budget, and is an investment as part of the State Government’s10 Year Mental Health Plan for Victoria.