How common are mental disorders?
Mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression affect approximately one in seven young people in Australia (Young Minds Matter Synthetic Estimates – May 2023).
One in five respondents to Mission Australia’s 2024 Youth Survey reported mental health as their biggest personal challenge in the past year.
Half of all mental illness begins before the age of 14, with most cases going undetected or untreated. Seventy-five per cent of people who experience mental illness develop symptoms before they turn 25. In Western Australia alone, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-24 years.
Our research impact
Early Neurodevelopment and Mental Health
The period from conception to age 5 is a critical window to act to prevent mental illness and give children the best chance for a mentally healthy future.
At The Kids, we undertake research with families that include babies and young children, to try to understand how all families can be supported to give kids their best start to life. We want to help families to promote the social and emotional wellbeing of their children, strengthen their development, and prevent childhood mental illness. Right now, we have projects focused on helping families to support toddler self-regulation, knowing ‘when to worry’ about social and emotional wellbeing in early childhood, and designing new systems of infant and early childhood mental health care.
Developmental Science of Mental Health
Similarly to early childhood, the teenage years have a profound impact on how we develop. There is so much variation in how teens fare across this period. By accessing large amounts of data on the mental and physical health of adolescents, we can recognise the best opportunities to provide early access to mental health care, ensuring young minds stay on the right track.
Healing Kids, Healing Families
Adversity and trauma can impact kids and families in different ways. It can compromise physical health, mental health, sense of wellbeing and young people’s learning. To give kids the best start in life, we want to support their wellbeing after experiencing medical trauma, support and improve the wellbeing of young people who have experienced trauma-related outcomes, like dissociation, and transform the healthcare system to be trauma-informed and culturally responsive, both of which encourage healthy development.
Youth Mental Health
Children and young people face a range of challenges in their lives, as they navigate education, friendships, family dynamics and the development of their identity. Some young people face additional difficulties due to marginalisation and require targeted support to help prevent or cope with mental health difficulties. The Youth Mental Health Team aims to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people with the greatest need, working collaboratively with youth, families, services providers, and the broader community to develop evidence-based tools and resources to achieve this aim. We also focus on the issues that young people and families themselves prioritise, to ensure we meet community needs and expectations. Our work uses innovative approaches to reduce the prevalence and impact of mental health difficulties in young people, mitigate risk factors that lead to poor mental health, and improve access to mental health support.
Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a holistic interpretation of mental health that includes the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community.
It is within the whole community that each of us is able to achieve our full potential and thereby improve the wellbeing of our entire community.
We are working to improve cultural safety in mental healthcare settings, create a culturally derived parenting program for Aboriginal families, reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal children and families in Western Australia, and ensure Aboriginal voices are heard when discussions are held about how the system must meet changing demands.
Human Development and Community Wellbeing
We also understand the importance of research responding to those changing demands to better serve the community. That’s why we’re helping parents to manage their children’s screentime, supporting the use of online mental health therapy services, supporting the mental health of FIFO workers and their families, and investigating the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on children’s mental health.
