A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
After a long and challenging two years, Year 12 students are heading into the final few months of their schooling. Those in Sydney and Melbourne have spent a significant proportion studying from home; for Melbourne’s students, in particular, this was a repeat of their Year 11 experience through the lockdowns of 2020. Year 12 [...]
Both the 2021 Victorian Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and the 2020 federal Productivity Commission Inquiry Report highlight the impact of a parent’s mental illness on their children, and the need to break the cycle of mental illness in families. Monash University’s leadership role in addressing the issue over the past 10 years resulted [...]
By Andrea Reupert, Kelly-Ann Allen, Emily Berger, Zoe Morris, Dianne Summers, Gerald Wurf and Fiona May School psychologists and counsellors provide a critical service supporting students with learning and emotional needs. During COVID-19 restrictions, they had to change the way they provided this service. Given that there have been seven international health crises over the [...]
By Karen Malone, Swinburne University of Technology Leaders across the country – particularly in the states with the largest outbreaks, New South Wales and Victoria – have designed road maps towards reopening the states after long lockdowns. Safety in childcare, schools and universities is a core component of reopening plans. Year 12 students in Melbourne [...]
By Helen Forbes-Mewett, Associate Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences Australian universities are understood to have the highest number of international students per capita worldwide. Their wellbeing is paramount to the higher education sector. Despite the struggles international students face while studying in an unfamiliar environment, there’s a counter-narrative regarding the many associated positives [...]
By Dougal Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington If you’re feeling uninspired, stagnant and joyless, you’re not alone. A sense of languishing is one of the dominant emotions of 2021 as we navigate life in an ongoing pandemic and process other terrible world events alongside. But although many people are struggling and [...]
By Will W Dobud, Charles Sturt University If you peered through the keyhole of any psychotherapy session, chances are they would all look very similar. There may be nearly 1,000 types of therapies — such as cognitive behavioural and family therapy — but you will typically find a client and practitioner in a room, sitting [...]
By Lucas Walsh, Professor, School of Education Culture and Society The pandemic has amplified feelings of uncertainty in young people’s lives. Its spectre looms over their ability to plan, be it for travel, finding and securing affordable housing, attending a wedding (perhaps their own), or whether their small children are going to school. Uncertainty is [...]
By Jane Nursey, Professor Helen Cahill, Professor Jim Watterston and Professor Lisa Gibbs Since early 2020, Australia’s bushfires and then the pandemic have rapidly altered our ways of living and learning. As time goes on, the one thing that is certain is unpredictability, requiring flexibility and constant adjustments. It isn’t helpful to catastrophise. As Professor [...]
By Emily Berger, Monash University There has been a reported spike in young people attending emergency departments for self-harm and suicide during the pandemic. In New South Wales, presentations to emergency departments for self-harm and suicidal thoughts are reportedly up by 47% since before the pandemic. In the year to July 29 2021, there were [...]
