Mental Health Australia has provided a submission to the Australian Government’s review of the National School Chaplaincy Program. In the submission Mental Health Australia recommended that the Australian Government should remove reference to chaplains in the name of the program to acknowledge a more secular approach to supporting student wellbeing and to create universal access; enable schools to engage secular wellbeing support officers; investigate whether the current minimum qualification requirements act to unintentionally exclude mental health professionals with other relevant qualifications to undertake a wellbeing support officer role; wellbeing support provided through schools should be openly supportive of and safe for members of the LGBTIQ+ community; encourage participating schools to adopt the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and young people wellbeing in schools should be designed and implemented by Aboriginal and Torres Islander people; and should scope the cost of implementing a national, comprehensive, secular school wellbeing program.

The Albanese Government is encouraging more Australians to take up a career in mental health, with applications for the next round of the Mental Health Nursing and Allied Health Scholarship Program now open.

Under this program, people studying or working in nursing and allied health, including psychology, can apply for scholarships and clinical placement supports worth up to $30,000 each.

The $5.2 million program provides a range of scholarships for studies and placements in mental health, including undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing professional development. A guaranteed number of scholarships are allocated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Scholarships are available for anyone commencing or continuing their studies in 2023, with applications open until Monday 10 October 2022.

The Andrews Labor Government is delivering a new healing-focused mental health and wellbeing service designed for and delivered by people with lived experience of mental illness.

Because nobody knows our mental health system better than the people who’ve experienced it firsthand. Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system is being reformed from the ground up with lived experience at the heart of new programs and initiatives.

Once open, the residential service will be independently evaluated to ensure it is best serving Victorians in distress, and guide the future expansion of peer-led services across the state.

Victorian Auditor-General, Andrew Greaves, tabled the following report: Follow-up of Maintaining the Mental Health of Child Protection Practitioners. DFFH (formerly the Department of Health and Human Services) delivers Victoria’s child protection system and employs more than 2,000 child protection practitioners (CPPs).

These professionals support children and families experiencing complex, high-risk and traumatic situations. They investigate and respond to child abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and exploitation. In 2020-21, individuals and agencies made 121,715 reports to child protection. Our 2018 audit found that unreasonable workloads had created workplace stressors that were harming the mental health of CPPs. This undermined the effectiveness of their crucial and challenging frontline work.

Stricter lockdowns in response to COVID-19 led to higher loss in life satisfaction and worse mental health and wellbeing outcomes, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) shows. Led by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and using Oxford University’s COVID-19 Stringency Index, the study is the first in Australia to examine the direct links between lockdowns and life satisfaction for the entire COVID-19 period.

The study also found that higher case numbers and deaths caused by COVID-19 had a negative impact on people’s wellbeing, but to a lesser extent than lockdowns.

Applications for hundreds of mental health and wellbeing workforce scholarships and grants are now open as vital work continues to build a diverse and robust mental health and wellbeing workforce. The Andrews Labor Government is offering 360 scholarships and grants to train and upskill mental health nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, psychologists, alcohol and other drug (AOD) practitioners and lived and living experience workers as part of a $6 million investment.

Scholarships are available for postgraduate courses in mental health nursing, postgraduate allied health and AOD courses, as well as for lived and living experience university courses. Grants are also available for psychiatric state enrolled nurses undertaking clinical placement.

The Access for All program is a free interactive online training program to raise awareness of the barriers people with disability experience when accessing mainstream health care.

The course also provides strategies and resources to improve the accessibility of health services for people with disability.

ReachOut is conducting a survey of young people to better understand how the issues that concern them are impacting on their mental health and wellbeing. We are excited to be running this study to elevate the voices of young people regarding their experiences of day-to-day challenges and how these might impact their mental health and wellbeing. We will also be exploring how young people would like to be supported when things get tough. We believe this research will help ReachOut and the broader mental health sector to better understand the challenges facing young people and what supports they need. 

Relationships Australia is excited to announce a new PhD scholarship opportunity in partnership with the Australian National University.

The successful PhD candidate will investigate how to better include the voices of children and young people in the design, delivery, and evaluation of community services. This scholarship is in partnership with ANU, with the PhD student embedded at Relationships Australia Canberra & Region as they work to translate their research into real-world applications.

The scholarship is valued at $21,640 and is open to a prospective or continuing domestic ANU student receiving an approved ANU HDR Base stipend scholarship. Applications due 31 October.

Equally Well is inviting participation in the “National Initiatives and Activities Scan” to identify what organisations are doing to improve the physical healthcare of people living with mental ill-health. You can participate through a short online survey, to highlight your work and help build the broader movement for change.

Equally Well is inviting participation in the “National Initiatives and Activities Scan” to identify what organisations are doing to improve the physical healthcare of people living with mental ill-health. You can participate through a short online survey, to highlight your work and help build the broader movement for change.

The National Mental Health Commission is currently undertaking ‘Making Connections for Your Mental Health and Wellbeing (Connections 2022) which sees the Commission visiting 37 locations across Australia; from Kununurra in Western Australia, across to Yirkalla in Northern Territory, through NSW and Victoria and right down to George Town in Tasmania. These important community conversations are integral to how the Commission gathers data to inform the Federal Government on evidence-based policy and reform initiatives on mental health and suicide prevention systems across Australia. These evidence-based outcomes will inform the development of a National Outcomes Framework and inform the work of the priorities for the Commission over the next years.

Its critical to reform that the voice of lived experience is central to each initiative.  As such, we are requesting your assistance in boosting the National Survey on mental health and suicide prevention, to ensure all people in Australia have the chance to share their experience of the mental health and suicide prevention systems.

Suicide Prevention Australia’s National Suicide Prevention Conference 2023 will be held over 1 – 4 May in Canberra. This event provides a gateway to unite suicide prevention experts to showcase evidence-based solutions and robust discussion, focused on solutions for saving lives.

The annual Mental Health and Wellbeing Expo, from 4 to 7pm on Sunday 9 October 2022, is a space where the Canberra community can learn about practical ways to support their mental wellbeing and that of their community, including where to go when they need support. 

Mental Health Month ACT occurs in October each year and is coordinated by the Mental Health Community Coalition ACT.

Black Dog Institute is pleased to announce its Summit on Self-Harm to be held on
Thursday, 10 November 2022 at Doltone House in Sydney.

This full-day event will bring together leading international researchers, clinicians and lived experience experts to provide and share insights about self-harm.