School Mental Health: Development of a Multidimensional Mental Health Training Model Based on a Needs Assessment

Abstract

Global trends related to climate change, cost of living crisis, war and pandemics have and continue to impact on young people’s mental health. In Australia, mental disorders increased by 50% between 2007 and 2021 in 16–24-year-olds and we have now reached a crisis in youth mental health. Protection from harm to a person’s mental health is a human right, which forms the basis to the provision of healthcare to young people in Australia. However, such care necessarily engages multiple stakeholders and sectors who largely work in silos related only to their field. This thesis proposes a radical rethinking which acknowledges that the healthcare systems cannot operate in isolation and instead requires more coordination, workforce integration and collaboration with community services and community-based organisations.

Schools are at the forefront youth mental healthcare in the community. Schools can provide early detection, early intervention, and triage for young people with emerging mental health issues. Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis is to develop a training model for teacher training and changes to school systems. This model is based on a needs assessment of the Australian school context with the aim to provide more effective school-based care to young people with emerging mental health issues.

In response to the current crisis in youth mental health, this thesis contributes to the growing body of knowledge focused on identifying best practices for mental health service delivery to young people. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) and experts in the field encourage a multidisciplinary workforce based on multisectoral collaboration, the challenge has been to envision what such a model would look like in different contexts. The purpose of this thesis is to provide the initial conceptualization of such a model for the Australian school context.