Synopsis: Schools are an important and often underutilised setting for promoting adolescent health and wellbeing. This 2-part series will explore whole-school approaches to health promotion, using the first Global Standards for Health Promoting Schools (developed by our team for the WHO and UNESCO) and showcase recent research on the effectiveness and implementation of health-promoting schools with a focus on youth engagement and mental health in the Asia Pacific region.
Shifting the focus to whole-school approaches to adolescent mental health, part 2 of this series on July 10th will review current evidence for Health-Promoting Schools and positive school social environments and mental health and explore how Health-Promoting Schools has been applied in Indonesia to address the challenge of adolescent mental health.
Questions this seminar addressed:
- What is the current evidence to support a whole-school approach to mental health?
- What is the current status of whole-school approaches to mental health in Indonesia and where are the opportunities for growth?
Speakers: Dr Monika Raniti, Dr Margaretha
Dr Monika Raniti is a research fellow and team leader at the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne. A psychologist by training, Monika conducts research at the intersection of mental health, prevention, and school communities, both in Australia and overseas. Since 2019, she has led a series of projects related to whole-school approaches to health and wellbeing, including as the lead author of WHO and UNESCO’s global standards for health-promoting schools and systems.
Dr Margaretha is a researcher in mental health and developmental psychopathology, as well as an academic at Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia. As a counsellor for children and adolescents, she approaches her work using the scientist-practitioner framework. Her studies on school mental health in Indonesia provide insights into the needs, policies, and implementation challenges and opportunities, and have implications for promoting school mental health in other resource-poor countries.
Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00pm AEST
Date: 10th of July 2025
Register to attend.
Advancing Adolescent Health in the Asia Pacific: A virtual community to share knowledge and support collaboration
Despite one in two of the world’s adolescents living in the Asia-Pacific region, adolescent health is a relatively new field of endeavour in Australia as well as the region. It is a field that spans policy makers from multiple sectors, researchers from different disciplines, and practitioners working in health services, schools and communities and encompasses a multitude of health topics and concerns. Despite this, there are few opportunities to come together to share, showcase and build capacity to improve adolescent health and wellbeing in the region.
This seminar series aims to provide opportunities for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, implementers, young advocates – indeed, anyone interested in the health and wellbeing of adolescents – to enhance their understanding of adolescent health and wellbeing, with a focus on research.
This series is supported by the Centre of Research Excellence for Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health. Led by a team at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, it brings together leading Australian research groups including the University of Melbourne, Burnet Institute, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.
Read more about the series here
