Presentations at the 2024 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference

Published

Thursday, April 11, 2024 - 11:15 AM

Figure 1. Carla and Sarthak at the Conference.

With exciting and unprecedent advances in youth mental health, the 2024 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference (CAMH) was a fantastic opportunity for to learn, connect and present some groundbreaking MCRI research. CAMH brings together mental health professionals, government, peer workers and people with lived experienc

e from across Australia and internationally, providing a platform to showcase the latest insights in this field. 

Carla Pozo Jeria, Evaluation Manager for the Mental Health in Primary Schools Program (MHiPS), presented key learnings from the Voice of the Child Activities. Under the theme of amplifying voices and empowering young people, Carla spoke to MHiPS’ engagement in focus groups with children around their experiences in school mental health programs, and the resulting insights on how to engage and include children’s voices in research and evaluation. 

From a comprehensive review of the literature, to the
development of strategies to include children under 12 years old in conversations, this innovative piece of work gathered significant interest. These activities and learnings from MHiPS provide valuable guidance as researchers increasingly look to involve the powerful - and often unheard - voices of young people in their research. Access Carla's slides here.

 Figure 2. A Magic Map created by a student, describing help-seeking behaviour.

Sarthak Gandhi, Research Assistant presented the development of the Children’s Wellbeing Continuum. The Continuum is an accessible, evidence-based tool designed to support conversations about children’s wellbeing, recognising that mental health changes over time. It aims to provide a simple tool for understanding and responding to concerns early to better meet the needs of children and families. Looking forward, we are excited to continue to learn from the experiences of health professionals, parents/caregivers and educators as they use this tool.

Figure 3. Learn more and download The Children's Wellbeing Continuum

The CAMH conference was a great opportunity to connect with leading professionals and learn from their work in this field. It was gratifying to see the high level of interest in the activities of MHiPS and the Continuum as it inspires our ongoing work. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this vital conversation, and remain committed to creating a brighter future for young people everywhere.