The Barrett Adolescent Centre is an inpatient Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, situated in the grounds of The Park Centre for Mental Health complex, Wacol.  The Centre is a combined operation utilising staff from Queensland Health and DETA.

The Centre utilises a multidisciplinary approach to the assessment and treatment of the patients.  The various disciplines represented include:  psychiatry, general medicine, psychiatric nursing, psychology, occupational therapy, social work and teaching.

The Centre’s Management Committee is made up of the Clinical Director, Nurse Unit Manager, Business Unit Co-ordinator, Allied Health Representative and the School Principal. The Executive Officer and Management Committee of the Park Centre for Mental Health also provide a number of administrative functions to the centre.

The Centre currently has eighteen students admitted. There are fifteen full time and three day adolescents. It is known that over ninety percent of students come from outside the Moreton East Area. Students come from throughout Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern New South Wales (where the closest facility is in Sydney).

The ages range from thirteen to seventeen years with the occasional twelve year old where maturity in growth and socialisation make hospitalisation and schooling with older children appropriate. Adolescents come from year seven through to year twelve and a small percentage (5%) from Special Schools. Similarly, intellectual ability covers a broad range from mild intellectual disability to superior.

Presently there are forty two staff working within the Centre.  The Health Department staff includes:
Psychiatrist and a Psychiatric Registrar, Psychologists, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist, Leisure Therapist and Speech Language Pathologist. Psychiatric nursing staff working three eight hour shifts. The school has the equivalent of seven staff which includes teachers and teacher aides. Subjects include Maths/Science, Learning Technology and English, Art, Home Economics, Horticulture, Performing Arts, Music and Physical Education.