{"id":4208,"date":"2021-03-16T13:10:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T02:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/?p=4208"},"modified":"2021-03-16T13:11:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T02:11:53","slug":"supporting-teachers-to-support-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/2021\/03\/16\/supporting-teachers-to-support-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting teachers to support students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schools have been flagged as an ideal, universal platform to better support the mental health and wellbeing of children. The MCRI Mental Health in Primary Schools pilot is recommended by The Royal Commission into Victoria\u2019s Mental Health system and will expand to 26 schools in 2021 to help teachers more confidently support children\u2019s mental health. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mental health difficulties affect up to 10-20% of children and adolescents, with half of all mental<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>illnesses beginning by the age of 14.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Given\u00a0<\/span>the opportunity that childhood affords to intervene early before mental health difficulties become entrenched, and\u00a0<\/span>that nearly all children attend school,\u00a0<\/span>The <\/span>Mental<\/span>\u00a0Health in Primary Schools (<\/span>MHiPS<\/span>) project was<\/span>\u00a0designed to build the capacity of schools and educators to address mental health issues. The project has been timely, with\u00a0<\/span>three recent policy reports\u00a0<\/span>flagging\u00a0<\/span>the education sector as a<\/span>\u00a0setting that could be used\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>provide<\/span> mental health support to students<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0involves the development of a new role in primary schools, a Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator<\/span>\u00a0(MHWC)<\/span>, who participates in a bespoke training program delivered by our partners, the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Importantly, the MHWC is from a teaching background<\/span>\u00a0and are<\/span>\u00a0an additional resource for the school,\u00a0<\/span>without<\/span>\u00a0a teaching load. During the co-design process of the role, these characteristics were deemed crucial for the successful long-term\u00a0<\/span>embedding and sustainability\u00a0<\/span>of the MHWC model.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The MHWC model was trialled in 2020 in 10 schools<\/span>\u00a0across the North West Victoria region, with participants providing overwhelming<\/span>ly<\/span>\u00a0positive feedback.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Age<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>r<\/span>ecently published an article on the\u00a0<\/span>MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0project and revealed that following the success of the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>MHiPs<\/span>\u00a0pilot, the project would be expanded to include 26 schools across metropolitan and regional north and south west Victoria this year.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Frank\u00a0Oberklaid, of the Centre for Community Child Health and Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute was interviewed for The Age article. He said the program was designed with teachers to make something practical and effective they could\u00a0actually use.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers now see this is a core role for them but they\u00a0say\u00a0\u2018I need more resources in the school\u2019. They might not have the time or confidence or expertise to do it all themselves,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Royal Commission into Victoria\u2019s Mental Health\u00a0<\/span>System\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0has<\/span>\u00a0now\u00a0<\/span>recommended broader implementation<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0should the 2021 trial result in favourable outcomes for teachers\u00a0<\/span>(reduced burden and stress, increased\u00a0<\/span>confidence<\/span>, knowledge and skills related to student mental health). Longer term, we hope that the model will have a positive impact on<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>student<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0mental health<\/span>\u00a0and wellbeing<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/span>para<\/span>l<\/span>lel<\/span>\u00a0to the\u00a0<\/span>MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0project,\u00a0<\/span>we<\/span>\u00a0are exploring<\/span>\u00a0three sub-projects<\/span>\u00a0which will inform broader implementation of\u00a0<\/span>MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>esting<\/span>\u00a0a multi-disciplinary, teleconferencing model of support for\u00a0<\/span>regional, rural and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>remote schools<\/span>;<\/span> trialling the <\/span>MHiPS<\/span>\u00a0model in Catholic\u00a0<\/span>education\u00a0<\/span>settings<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0and developing and testing a mental health<\/span>\u00a0continuum\u00a0<\/span>to help build a common language\u00a0<\/span>for<\/span>\u00a0child mental health<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The MCRI Mental Health in Primary Schools pilot is recommended by The Royal Commission into Victoria\u2019s Mental Health system and will expand to 26 schools in 2021 to help teachers more confidently support children\u2019s mental health. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":4212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23862,8971],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-health-and-development-march","category-featured"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4208"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4214,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions\/4214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}