Monash to help deliver mental health action program in Australian schools

Australia's first mental health literacy and action program, which seeks to address the mental health and wellbeing needs of young people at school, is set to be delivered by researchers at Monash University. In addition, the Monash research team involved in the project is seeking expressions of interest from schools across Victoria to take part in this program. First developed by Professor Joanne Riebschleger in the United States, this program has been adapted for Australian schools as a preventative approach to increase knowledge of mental health in the classroom and develop coping mechanisms for students, such as help seeking skills and resilience. The research team, including Alexandra Marinucci, a PhD candidate who is leading the program evaluation as part of her doctoral dissertation, will work alongside other provisional psychologists to deliver the program. The program is supervised by board-endorsed educational psychologists Dr Christine Grove and Dr Kelly-Ann Allen , all from Monash University's Faculty of Education. During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, a headspace report found one in three young people experienced a high level of distress. This compares with data from before the pandemic that found one in seven young people were affected by a mental illness.