Professor Frank Oberklaid, Director of the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) program and Co-group leader of Policy and Equity at the Centre for Community Child Health, delivered the 2022 Winston Rickards Memorial Oration on child mental health policy and service reform.

The Elephant leaves the room: an increased and belated focus on policy and service reform in child mental health. 16^th March 2022. Watch the recording of the oration.

In this insightful and generous oration, Prof Oberklaid provides a detailed account of the history and evolution of paediatrics and child mental health. He explores the challenges to child mental health advocacy over the years and outlines what approach is needed to make a difference for children’s mental health and wellbeing.

Prof Frank Oberklaid was the Foundation Director of Centre for Community Child Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital and is co-group leader of child health policy and equity at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Prof Oberklaid is Chair of the Victorian Children’s Council which provides expert advice to the Victorian Government on child health policies and services, and has chaired – or been a member of – numerous working groups at state, national and international levels. Most recently, Prof Oberklaid was co-Chair of a working group tasked with developing a National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy.

The Winston Rickards Memorial Oration is organised and funded by Mental Health for the Young & Their Families in Victoria and supported by the Centre for Community Child Health, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Emerging Minds, The Mental Health Foundation Australia and The RANZCP Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.