Mental health is not simply the absence of mental illness, but also the development of positive wellbeing. This notion has been reflected in recent theories around the ‘complete state’ model of mental health and reiterated by policy initiatives within schooling systems, who have placed a greater priority on supporting students’ wellbeing. Schools often act as a prevention and early intervention service for children and adolescents at risk of mental illness, operating with general and targeted wellbeing programs. Therefore, understanding the different types of trajectories of students’ wellbeing and identify critical transition periods when wellbeing begins to deteriorate will help inform schools prevention efforts. The current study utilises linked population-level census data collected from the South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection to understand the trajectories of sadness, worries, happiness and life satisfaction. The sample included government students who completed the WEC in Grade 6 in 2016 and participated in one or more subsequent WEC surveys in 2017 (Grade 7), 2018 (Grade 8), or 2019 (Grade 9). The sample were split by gender in all analyses (females = 4182, males = 4197). Examination of longitudinal trajectories for each wellbeing variable was conducted through an iterative model testing process of growth curve analysis and varyingly-restricted mixture model estimation. Results indicated four distinct trajectory classes was the best fitting models for each of the wellbeing variables, except for life satisfaction where a three-class model was best fitting. Trajectory classes for all wellbeing variables, split by gender, will be presented. Concerningly, 19.7% of the female sample were classified in a ‘high stable’ sadness trajectory, 39.5% of females were classified as either ‘high or very high stable’ worries and 37.7% of males also had ‘high stable’ worries. Implications for how the identifications of different trajectories groups can inform universal and targeted school interventions will be discussed.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the lockdowns that followed created unprecedented circumstances which affected young people disproportionately. Peer relationships and rights of passage were replaced with online learning and time spent in isolation. There has never been a more important time for peer-relationships and co-design as the lived experienced of young people is unprecedented. Without first understanding their experience, supports would be speculative at best.
GROW Australia has been engaged in codesign and creating intentional communities for more than 60 years. We understand as perhaps few can, how to put the lived experience at the centre of the program co-design. This presentation will share insights into how intentional peer support works and how it is different to a clinical intervention. It will explore how friendship is the special key to mental health and offer a blueprint for communities to assist young people to move forward. There is much more to psychological recovery than psychological strategies. Centre to the Grow Program is knowledge that: “You alone can do it, but you can’t do it alone”.

3 x Key Learnings:
1. What is Intentional Peer Support?
2. Why is friendship central to recovery?
3. How do you recognise and build on lived experience?

This presentation will discuss the challenges and benefits of implementing a therapeutic parenting group program in a regional context, using a virtual setting. The Tresillian Postnatal Depression (PND) Therapy group is co-facilitated by the Mid North Coast Local Health District, Child Youth and Family Mental Health Service – trainee psychiatry registrar and the Coffs Harbour Tresillian Family Care Centre (Day Services) child and family health nurse.
The impact of perinatal mental health issues on children and families;and the need to access help early is well evidenced (NSW First 2000 Days Framework, 2019). Close to 20% of clients attending the local Tresillian Day Services have scored in the clinical range for depression or anxiety on screening, with 5% experiencing thoughts of self-harm.
The Tresillian PND therapy group draws on a range of evidence based psychological strategies, using a narrative framework and strength based approach. More recently the group program has been facilitated in regional centres which presents particular challenges including limited resources, i.e. lack of appropriate group space/onsite child care facilities, logistical access to centres such as long distances to travel and impact of COVID-19 restrictions. The benefits of offering the therapeutic group virtually include:
• Improved access to families with limited practical support
• Increased coverage for families across the Local Health District
• Shared lived experiences and journey of parenting with PND & anxiety
• Improved clinical outcomes for participants
• Specialised services provided despite limited resources in regional setting
• Adapting a metro based therapy group to meet the needs of regional families

3 key learnings
1. Collaboration between mental health services and early parenting programs can provide regional families specialised care to support perinatal mental health.

2. The Tresillian Postnatal Depression Therapy group can successfully be adapted to a regional setting (2).

3. The virtual group space enhances access to evidence based perinatal mental health care, aligning with the NSW Health First 2000 days framework objectives (1).

The F-Words Life Wheel is an approach and way of thinking that facilitates conversations, interactions, engagement and goal setting for children and their families. It draws on the F-words, developed by Rosenbaum and Gorter from CanChild in Canada in 2011. The six favourite words focus on childhood development domains: function, family, fitness, fun, friends and future. They evolved from the world health organisation (WHO) international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) framework and provide a simple meaningful language for children and families.

Building on this work and their knowledge of coaching, developmental relational frameworks, strength based interactions and cultural models of care, including Hauora, a Māori view of health unique to New Zealand, Arul and Lucy developed the F-Words Life Wheel,

The F-words Life wheel is an approach that values the importance of connection and enables us to hear the child and family’s voice, to value what is important to them now and to journey alongside families. It focuses on occupation centred outcomes that build on individual’s strengths and enable participation in their lived environment. A key component is meeting and matching families where they are at and respecting their values, culture and life capacity at any given time and enabling children and families to envisage next steps towards their hopes and dreams for the future.

Introduction: The parents’ role in child mental health is not only as help-seekers for but also as nurturers of their children. However, parents often lack confidence to function in these roles. To improve parents’ child mental health literacy, it’s important to connect parents with reliable and evidence-based information. Using a co-design approach, a mobile app with an integrated push notification feature was developed for parents of children aged 0-12 years to learn about social and emotional wellbeing in children, explore concerns they might have and where they can seek help or support.
Method: App development involved co-design workshops, prototyping, testing designs, mind mapping, iterative development and in-depth user testing. The majority of co-design activities were completed virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The co-design group consisted of 85 parents and 21 high level experts from peak organisations. It also included CALD, ATSI, disability and LGBTQI+ representation.
Results: Parents wanted to know what is considered ‘normal’ child behaviour and emotions and when their child might need help. Parents valued an app that was an easy to use and learn. Professionals emphasised the importance of careful framing of messages and providing support for parent wellbeing.
Progress: An app (Raising Healthy Minds) was launched, 28 September 2021. Users consent to receiving push notifications and sharing their personal data and interactions with the app. This data is used to ‘listen’ to parents’ concerns and interests around child mental health, and the language used to express such concerns. These learnings will guide future app development.
Conclusion: Co-design with parents ensured that the product meet their needs and addressed their concerns. Whilst parents did not express wanting information about parent wellbeing, co-design with professionals emphasised the importance of including such content. Data collection will allow the app to continually improve and evolve with usage.

Indi Clarke will share his knowledge and insights from 5 years as the Executive Officer of Koorie Youth Council (KYC) and KYC’s framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth participation, Wayipunga. Wayipunga in the Dja Dja Wurrung language means ‘supporting young people,’ and is the first resource of its kind in the country.
The resource, developed for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, is an essential resource for all people working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and our communities. It provides workers, organisations and government with the values and knowledge to meaningfully work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and our communities, and the strategies to support young people's participation in decision-making processes, from a genuine place of learning and understanding.

Through highlighting KYC’s work, you will learn from demonstrated examples of how to use the resource and apply it, in the work that you do and how the framework relates to organisations, individuals and the role we must play to support young people in our communities.

Wayipunga calls on everyone who works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to join us in sharing their voices and practising the principles of meaningful engagement to ensure they are empowered to participate in matters that are important to them.

Please see Dr Kelly Baird

Background: The PREMISE Youth Advisory Board (YAB), made up of young people from across Australia, was established in 2019 at The Matilda Centre to provide a critical opportunity to listen to the perspectives and aspirations of young Australians in mental health and substance use research. This study aimed to collate and understand the insights and ideas the YAB members had for youth involvement in this critical research.

Methods: A review of existing youth participatory models was conducted to inform the development of the YAB. An online survey was distributed to YAB members between February and March 2021, 17 months post launch of the YAB.

Results: The YAB has met with a number of research teams at the Matilda Centre to share their insights and ideas to inform the planning, development, and implementation of 22 projects. YAB members have also played a critical role in informing the strategic direction of the Centre.

All YAB members reported they enjoyed their experience on the Board (N=6), with the majority indicating they developed various skills, knowledge, and capabilities as a result of their involvement. This included critical thinking, mental health literacy and research skills. All YAB members reported that they perceive youth involvement in research to be important because it; improves the quality and appropriateness of research, increases participants understanding of materials/measures, and improves dissemination and implementation strategies. Two valuable documents have been created by the YAB to guide and inspire further research and strategy - ‘Research Priorities and Principles’ and ‘Key Considerations for Youth Research’.

Conclusion: Understanding youth perspectives of their involvement in research critical to ensuring the optimisation of co-production and participatory approaches. These findings have implications for the ongoing participation of the YAB at the Matilda Centre and also for the development and evaluation of youth participation models more broadly.

Please see Michele Oliphant