The terms ‘youth participation’ and ‘co-design’ can be used organisationally to mean that young people have been directly involved in creating an event. Yet often there is real risk of young people being sidelined while the ‘adults’ take over and ‘co-design’ is relegated to a buzzword (Blomkamp, 2018).
The yourtown LGBTQI+ Our Pride Youth Advisory Group recently held an art show, ‘Your Pride’ as part of the 2021 Brisbane Pride Festival and Bris Fest. The art show set out to create a meaningful space for diverse young voices and the community to come together in a joyful celebration of LGBTQIA+ life. This is an excellent example of what can be achieved when we use a model of participation wherein young people are trusted and given space to create, develop, and run an activity in its entirety. Further, it highlights positive organisational outcomes such as building trust between traditionally marginalised communities and services that can help them overcome disadvantages, as well as the deeper satisfaction felt by young people when they are trusted to achieve rather than expected to fail. When participation is democratised and Lived Experience is treated as expertise in co-design and development, young people are able to create connections and spaces free from deficit perspectives that restore their self-confidence and mental wellbeing.
This will be presented by Tianna Sevens, Youth Participation Assistant at yourtown (supported by the Youth Participation Coordinator), who was most involved in creating this art show. Through the presentation, we will discover how the art show became an opportunity for genuine empowerment for young people, the organisation, and the community, and how sharing success has far-reaching positive outcomes for all.

3 x Key Learnings:
1. Spaces created by young people, for young people, are responded to by both the young people and the broader community with positivity.
2. Creating a space for diverse voices to be uplifted, involving those same diverse voices in the process of creating the space, results in genuine expressions of inclusivity.
3. If you look at young people for their strengths, rather than their ‘weaknesses’ you will find their ‘weaknesses’ do not ‘mess-up’ the end goal.

Emotional Intelligence has been defined as a series of competencies relating to how we understand, express, utilize and manage emotions. Research has identified emotional competencies as important contributors to scholastic success and indeed mental health in children and adolescents. In this presentation I outline our work on Emotional Intelligence in schools. This will include a brief explanation of the construct of emotional intelligence applied to schools, a synopsis of our published research on emotional intelligence and scholastic outcomes, and an outline of our intervention programs (Aristotle Emotional Intelligence Programs see www.aristotle-EI.com) design to improve emotional intelligence in children, adolescents, and teachers. I will describe how a whole-school approach is needed to measure, develop and track emotional intelligence over an extended duration and how improving emotional intelligence leads to not only a reduction in problematic processes such as anxiety and depression but an improvement in scholastic outcomes. Available resources for schools with be outlined throughout the presentation. Finally, I will discuss the opportunity to participate in a large-scale, Australia-wide emotional intelligence intervention coordinated by Swinburne University to improve well-being and scholastic outcomes.

The growing use of digital mental health by young people highlights the value of these options in facilitating access to mental health and wellbeing support, and in assisting to manage high demand for services. Awareness of digital mental health options has been increasing over recent years and many practitioners are now familiar with a range of services and tools available to utilise with their clients. Young people are also expecting their practitioners to have knowledge about these resources, particularly mobile apps.

Despite this awareness, many child and youth practitioners still require guidance and support about how to introduce digital mental health to clients and how to use it within their own clinical practice. The integration of digital mental health requires knowledge of effectiveness and best practice adoption of these services to supplement face-to-face and telehealth care. There is good evidence that client outcomes improve with appropriate use of digital mental health, and there are some excellent resources for prevention and early intervention work with young people.

A recent survey by the e-Mental Health in Practice (eMHPrac) service found that practitioners value training which provides emphasis on translating knowledge to clinical practice by providing case scenario and role play demonstrations. The e-Mental Health in Practice (eMHPrac) service is funded by the Australian Government to increase digital mental health knowledge, skills and confidence in primary care practitioners nationwide and this survey data has informed ongoing training and support options.

This presentation will explore some case scenario examples of how to use digital mental health for prevention and early intervention with young people. These scenarios will focus on how to match specific digital mental health services to a client's individual needs, abilities and desired outcomes and will include resources which provide quick strategies, skills and coping techniques.

Ready, Set, Prep! (RSP) is a place-based, collective impact initiative that aims to improve early childhood development and wellbeing outcomes in northern Melbourne. This partnership with community and service providers commenced in 2016, when evidence indicated a need for an empowering whole-of-community ‘school readiness’ intervention. The 2015 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) results showed that 37% of children in Fawkner start school developmentally vulnerable, significantly higher than municipal (20.8%) and state (19.9%) averages. Subsequently, philanthropic organisations (William Buckland Foundation, Helen Macpherson Smith Trust) and the Victorian Department of Health funded the formation, and scaling-up, of the partnership.

RSP’s participation has grown from 5 to over 40 service providers, with Merri Health as the backbone organisation. This partnership works collaboratively alongside culturally-diverse community members to change systems that exacerbate inequality, and implement targeted initiatives to support development and wellbeing for children and families prior to school.

Together, in 2021 the partnership co-designed a Theory of Change for the scaling-up of RSP. This process was informed by past work, community consultation, Most Significant Change stories, and quantitative data. A complementary range of key activities were identified as part of this proportionate universalism model accompanied by targeted interventions- engaging community champions, facilitating groups meeting specific needs, launching a Transition Network, improving continuity of early learning, and co-designing resources and key messages.

Long-term, population-level, systems-change takes time to see its effects, but 2018 AEDC results are positive; the collective efforts have seen less children starting school developmentally vulnerable (Fawkner 2018: 26%, 2015: 37%).

RSP highlights the benefits of using data in a strengths-based manner, providing a platform for community-driven, localised solutions to tackle the highly complex barriers facing local children and families. Involving and empowering community in different ‘roles’ creates a sense of ownership and community capacity, leading to positive development and wellbeing outcomes.

Please see Sylvia Reihana

Kinnections: A Data-driven Platform that Identifies and Prevents Youth Mental Ill-health in Schools

With increasing community expectation that schools play a critical role in responding to student mental health and wellbeing, all schools are now required to deliver a robust curriculum and support system to all students that assists them socially and emotionally, as well as academically.
Many dedicated principals and teachers who strive to support their students, are often limited in what they can achieve with the systems and processes they have in place, and although it is well documented that the first signs of mental illness emerge during school years, symptoms can go untreated for long periods of time as many children are not able to identify or label their problems.
The Kinnections platform enables a whole of school approach to student wellbeing, equipping all teaching staff with a simple system to identify and respond to students’ mental health needs. When used effectively, the tool will allow the school to build an interactive, in-time dataset on the wellbeing of all of their students.
The web-based platform is designed to capture data on students who are at risk of diminishing wellbeing affecting their mental health, allowing teachers to instantly identify which children do not have strong social connection or a positive future focus. Student mental health-check reports and tailored dashboards are generated, enabling the school to highlight which children are at greatest risk, providing alerts in real time that a child requires intervention and additional or professional support.
Implementing the Kinnections platform will provide schools with a data driven system to intervene and prevent mental ill-health as soon as it develops, keeping all children connected, respected, protected and able to thrive.
www.kinnections.com.au

Please see Gill Goodman

Mental health problems in young people are common. Explaining these problems is an essential part of early detection, engagement and management.

Cartoon books are an easy format for young people to read and a great vehicle to explain complex issues to them.

This presentation will describe the way four mental health issues that are common in young people are expained in a cartoon book format. These include books on OCD, School Refusal, Anxiety and ADHD. They have been well received by the targeted population and also the parents and carers of these children.

Cartoon books that are written by clinicians, using language they use in every day clinical interviews with appropriate illustrations convey information well and should be seen as a vital resource for this young clinicl group.

The format of a cartoon book is relatable, visually appealing and can incorporate humour which can decrease the anxiety associted with mental health problems.

The four books: The Secret Problem for OCD; The School Wobblies for School Refusal; Full of Beans for ADHD and
How To Bust The Worry Warts for Anxiety will be used to illustrate the power of this format as an educational tool to help young people with mental health disorders.

Abstract
Objectives: The primary aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and impact of a school-based health and well-being program (Health and Wellbeing for Girls: HWBG) on adolescent girls’ well-being, mindfulness, screen-time and physical activity.
Design: Randomised controlled trial
Method: The HWBG program was evaluated using a group randomised controlled trial (RCT) in one secondary school. A convenience sample of female students in Grade 8 (mean age: 14 ± 0.5 years) was recruited for the study (n=4 classes; 89 girls). The 20-week multi-component HWBG program, guided by Self-Determination Theory and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, was designed and delivered by a member of the research team who is an experienced and qualified physical education teacher. Randomisation occurred at the class level (n=4 classes) into dose-matched treatment conditions (i.e., HWBG or elective course for wait-list control group) prior to baseline assessments. HWBG was implemented during 5 hours of timetabled curriculum time per fortnight over two school terms. Process evaluation measures of recruitment, retention, adherence and satisfaction were used to determine program feasibility. Preliminary efficacy of HWBG for improving mental and social health, screen-time and physical activity was measured and analysed using linear mixed models.
Results: Significant group-by-time improvements and medium effects resulted for mental (p=0.04, d=0.45) and social health (p=0.02, d=0.5). No significant intervention effects were found for levels of physical activity and screen time. Participant ratings showed high levels of perceived enjoyment as indicated in the evaluation data, (mean rating of 4.44 out of a possible 5.0) when asked whether the program was enjoyable.
Conclusion: In addition to improving pro-social outcomes and psychological wellbeing levels in adolescent females, this study provides preliminary support for HWBG as a potentially feasible, efficacious and enjoyable program suitable for use with adolescent girls in the secondary schools setting.