Dr Lauren McLellan
Director of My Mind Check, Macquarie UniversityPresentation: Developing a National Voluntary Mental Health and Wellbeing Check-in for Australian School Students.
Young people commonly experience mental health concerns - 1 in 7 have a mental health diagnosis. But 89% don’t get the help they need. One way to improve these statistics is to help identify mental health concerns early. With funding from the BUPA Foundation Macquarie University conducted research to develop and evaluate a mental health check in tool for school students in Australia. We have now partnered with the Commonwealth Department of Education to further develop and roll out a free, online, voluntary mental health check tool for all school students across Australia. The tool will help schools quickly identify students who are struggling with mental health and wellbeing and assist them to recommend appropriate pathways to care. This presentation will provide an overview of the research we have conducted in developing the mental health check tool, as well as current plans to make the tool available in 2024 via this Commonwealth partnership. To maximise the benefits of this exciting project we want all stakeholders to have a voice, so the session will also include time to hear from the audience.
Dr Lauren McLellan
Dr Lauren McLellan is Director of the new Voluntary Mental Health Check Tool Project where Macquarie University has partnered with the Commonwealth Department of Education to develop and deliver a school-based mental health and wellbeing check to all Australian schools. She is also Co-Deputy Director (Clinical Products and Services) within the Macquarie University Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre and was previously Director of the Centre for Emotional Health Online Programs. Her research aims to use technology to remove barriers to families accessing assessment and treatment for youth mental health. She has developed online interventions that have been used in Australian public schools and internationally in Norway, Denmark and the United States. She has attracted $1.8million in competitive grant funding, $11 million in tenders and services, published 38 peer-reviewed articles/chapters and presented at numerous national and international conferences.