“Frankly, prevention is best.” A new blog from Michael Carr-Greg discusses how schools are best placed to prevent mental health conditions.

Published

Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 12:00 PM

The blog highlights that, despite one in six Australian children experiencing a mental health condition, our policies still largely focus on adults.

With more than half of mental health conditions starting before the age of 14, and warning signs appearing in children as young as five, problems are often entrenched and more costly to treat in a system that waits for crisis. 

Recently, Carr-Greg met with friend and colleague, MHiPS Director, Professor Frank Oberklaid.  

“I always admired Frank when we worked together at the Royal Children’s Hospital in the late 90’s. He was passionate then and he’s still fired up about child mental health but this time he is sounding the alarm—and it’s time we all listened.” 

Carr-Greg refers to Frank Oberklaid’s work in schools and through the MHiPS initiative as both radical and practical. Schools are an ideal place for non-stigmatising and universal strategies to help all students develop the skills to thrive and stop mental health conditions from occurring in the first place. 

“Prevention and early intervention are not just more humane, they are more effective and economically sensible.” 

Read the entire blog here.