In making these announcements, both the Prime Minister and the Health Minister have specifically noted the vitally important role of teachers and parents – a role that is as much about building a positive and supportive developmental environment for young people as about supporting those at risk. Prevention from the early stages being much better and more cost-effective than remediation further down the track.

The Australian Government identified the need for an effective parent and family led program drawing on these understandings – and in 2002 commissioned the national parent organisations to develop such a program building upon the learnings from our previous and current additional research – validating every step of the program’s development across a range of school communities.

That program was launched in 2003 as “Families Matter: families & schools working together to ensure the emotional well-being of young people” – and was enthusiastically taken up by some 200 schools and their communities across the country.

The program ran effectively and successfully until 2006: when the then government and department decided – against all the evidence of an overwhelmingly positive external evaluation report and its recommendations for further continuance and embedding of the program – and despite the ongoing protests of those school communities that had proven the value and efficacy of this community partnership-building initiative – not to renew the funding arrangements beyond 2006.

The Australian Council of State School Organisations, and the Australian Parents Council, who jointly developed, ran and validated the effectiveness of “Families Matter” initiative to achieve parents and teachers working together to support young people’s resilience, well-being and engagement in strong sustaining networked communities, are firmly of the view that a renewal of funding for this proven effective program should be a central element in the Government’s strategies for schools and their communities.

Read more: http://www.acsso.org.au/2010/07/young-people%E2%80%99s-mental-health-and-well-being/

Prof McGorry said it was “great” that Ms Gillard was committed to tackling mental health if elected. However, he said the investments were “off scale and off focus” by failing to identify the priorities raised in the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s final report.

“People need places to go where there is real support, at the moment 700,000 young people are currently locked out of access to care and these small investments in awareness and promotion don’t reduce waiting times,” he said.

Professor McGorry said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s $1.2 billion commitment to mental health was superior to the Government’s, but still needed to focus more on improving access to services for those dealing with mental illness and those at future risk.

“The Coalition’s policy is much more up to the mark in terms of scale, it’s four times bigger and it does focus on the most urgent priorities facing Australia’s with mental health; young people aged 12 – 25 with emerging disorders is the biggest area where focus is needed,” he said.

“There are some areas that look positive, but they have not really taken up the challenge of re-engineering and rebuilding mental health strategy in Australia and in particular in relation to young people who bear the brunt.

“I would urge the Prime Minister to add to her investments. She is trying to give the impression this is important, but it’s not enough of an investment.”

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/labor-prime-minister-julia-gillard-inks-277m-for-suicide-prevention/story-e6frfllr-1225897387696#ixzz0xLGqfzh3

Today I announce a comprehensive package of measures to tackle suicide and promote better mental health in our community.

A re-elected Gillard Labor Government will invest $277 million to support our communities, our schools, our health services and our carers to do more to identify and prevent suicide.

Our comprehensive package will target four key areas – (1) frontline services for those most at risk (2) direct prevention and crisis intervention (3) services targeted to men and (4) looking after kids, both those at risk and generally building their resilience.

We will boost frontline services in communities for people at greatest risk of suicide in our community, by providing:

• Fourth, we will promote resilience and good mental health for both our young children and our young people, by:
  • expanding services to improve children’s resilience by teacher and parent training to a further 1,700 primary schools.
  • training frontline health and community workers to better identify and support children with serious mental health, developmental and behavioural issues
  • giving young people who are reluctant or unable to access face-to-face mental health services an online alternative through which to seek help

Making progress in preventing suicide and improving mental health will not just take investment, but it will also take reform.

If re-elected, a Gillard Labor Government will move forward, with a different perspective, a Labor perspective grounded in our view that comprehensive health reform is the starting point for better mental health services.

Read more: http://www.alp.org.au/federal-government/news/speech–julia-gillard,–address-to-the-committee-f/

A COALITION proposal to fund early intervention mental health programs will ease the burden on services caring for patients with advanced mental illness, Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry says.

With the prospect of an election date announcement looming, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott launched into campaign mode with a plan to provide 800 acute and sub-acute early intervention beds, 60 new youth mental health centres and 20 Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centres (EPPIC).

There is currently only one Early Psychosis Intervention Centre in Australia, based in metropolitan Melbourne.

The plan to roll the centres out nationally was a key recommendation in the federal government’s health commission reform report.

Prof McGorry, who previously criticised the Labor government for failing to prioritise mental health funding, said investing in early intervention centres would ease pressure on the mainstream mental health system.

“A lot of these young patients then won’t have to go into the mainstream system, freeing up a lot of capacity for patients in later stages of illness,” Prof McGorry said.

Read more: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/in-depth/abbott-finds-15bn-for-mental-health/story-fn5rizbk-1225886382272

The aim of Reach Out is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Australian young people.

Reach Out’s key objectives are:

• To increase mental health literacy amongst young people aged 14-25 years
• To increase resilience amongst young people aged 14-25 years
• To increase help seeking behaviour amongst young people aged 14-25 years

Inspire Foundation identifies six principles as being crucial to achieving the objectives above. These are:

• Young people have the right to be involved in decision-making processes that directly affect them, and are able to help themselves and others through tough times.
• The involvement of young people in Reach Out will enhance the quality of the service Inspire Foundation delivers.
• For Reach Out to be able to improve a young person’s mental health and wellbeing, the young person must know that Reach Out exists, and see it as relevant in their lives.
• All information on Reach Out is based on the most up-to-date mental health research and best practice service delivery.
• The Inspire Foundation uses technology to continue to use innovative ways of delivering mental health information to young people.
• To reach young people Inspire Foundation must be present in the environments in which young people interact.

Read more: http://au.reachout.com/

Established and funded by the Commonwealth Government of Australia in 2006, headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation.  The people that work at headspace are providing solutions for young people aged 12 to 25 years.

Our primary focus is the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians.  We know that getting help early is the key to resolving these problems quickly.

With 30 one-stop-shops, headspace has a range of youth friendly health professionals who can help you with:

• General health
• Mental health and counselling
• Education, employment and other services
• Alcohol and other drug services.

headspace is making a difference where it is needed most – our young people

Read more: http://www.headspace.org.au/

The Headroom website was launched in 2000 and was unique at that time as the content focuses on promoting positive mental health rather than mental illness. The website aims to increase community awareness and mental health literacy among children, young people, parent/carers and professionals.

Headroom’s website aims to increase mental health literacy of children and young people. It provides access to mental health information and local services links to inform and support young people, professionals, families, and those who are concerned about the wellbeing of children and young people.

Youth participation and action is vital to this program, as it drives the creation of relevant and accessible information for children and young people.

Youth participation is underpinned by strong and respectful partnerships with young people. This is based on encouraging meaningful participation and integrating the thoughts of young people into decisions that impact on their lives.

Headroom provides mental health information to empower young people to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

Read more: http://www.headroom.net.au/

International research has shown the positive effects of good parenting on children’s mental health and on school achievement. Australian research has found that parents more often consult teachers about emotional or behavioural problems their children experience than they do mental health professionals.

It makes sense that if we want to support children’s mental health and wellbeing, families and schools should work closely together.

Parenting support and education is crucial to the success of school-based mental health programs for students. A collaborative approach where parents and schools work together to promote children’s mental health is more likely to yield substantial and sustained improvements for children.

Parents and carers play an important role in promoting the effectiveness of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL). Families can have a positive impact on student achievement by providing additional support and opportunities for children to practise and reinforce the SEL skills they are learning in the classroom.

Schools, through their regular contact with families, are well placed to assist parents and carers in their child rearing and parenting roles by providing access to high quality information and education about parenting, child development and children’s mental health.

Helping parents and carers to understand children’s mental health issues and to identify support services, will in turn enhance the mental health of their children.

The resources relating to Parenting support and education have been specifically designed by KidsMatter to provide parents, carers and school staff with information and suggestions on how to work together to improve children’s development and mental health.

Read more: http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/parenting-support-and-education/resources/

11-12 September, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney Campus

This is a conference for parents, teachers and school leaders.

Keynote speakers are Mia Freedman on Pop Culture, Technology and Your Kids – what parents need to know and Danielle Miller: Beyond Toxic – Raising Amazing Girls.

Of the 24 workshops that make up the rest of the conference, half are pertinent to the broad theme of mental health in the context of students and parents.

As the conference is only a day and a half long, you can only attend four workshops, though, and it’s really quite a difficult choice. Topics include:

• New Australian Curriculum
• Internet Safety
• Raising Strong Kids
• Children’s Learning Styles
• Faith and Families
• Family School Partnerships
• Meditation and Spirituality
• Grief and Loss for Children
• Dealing with Teens, Alcohol and Drugs
• Gifted Education

Read more: http://www.ccsp.catholic.edu.au/dbpage.php?pg=Conference&toplink=1

7-8 September, The Downtowner on Lygon, Carlton, VIC

The final presenter at this year’s Parents Victoria Annual Conference is Andrew Fuller. His presentation Creating a Resilient Life, takes life in 7 year cycles and looks at what is required at each phase to have a wonderful time.

As a clinical psychologist, Andrew Fuller works with many schools and communities in Australia and internationally, specialising in the wellbeing of young people and their families.

He has been a principal consultant to the national drug prevention strategy REDI, the ABC on children’s television shows, is an Ambassador for MindMatters and is a member of the National Coalition Against Bullying.

Andrew describes resilience as “the happy knack of being able to bungy jump through the pitfalls of life – to rise above adversity and obstacles.”

This presentation will deepen participants’ understanding of the intricacies of relationships.

Read more about Andrew Fuller: http://www.andrewfuller.com.au

Read more about Parents Victoria: http://www.parentsvictoria.asn.au/