The number of youth mental health centres known as headspace has rapidly expanded in the last decade. But we have yet to see evaluation of whether the services improve young people’s mental health.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has said that a job is a “prescription” for a young person with mental health issues. What does the research on employment and mental health show?
A proposal to re-direct a billion dollars of funding from acute hospital mental health services to the community risks causing a major destabilisation of the public mental health system.
Lack of youth involvement in politics is often attributed to lack of interest. But my research indicates the bigger barrier is government capacity to listen to and work with young people’s views.
Personality disorders have been richly illustrated by filmmakers. Think of attention-seeking Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. Or the villains in Silence of the Lambs and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Mental health services for children and adolescents in the UK are beset by “serious and deeply ingrained problems”, according to a new report from the Health Select Committee. Referral rates are increasing…
We are currently experiencing an epidemic of cyberbullying in schools that has taken the educational community by surprise. One new UK study of children’s digital habits found that online bullying has…
I was approached to write this piece a few weeks back. Everyday matters took precedence: a family visit, work deadlines, an imminent house move. Yesterday, after saying I didn’t have time to write it…
Youth can be a difficult phase of life, as young people attempt to forge new identities, while facing challenges at school and in their social life. Many also experience pressure and stress related to…
It’s often suggested that children with same-sex parents have poorer outcomes because they’re missing a parent of a particular sex. But research my colleagues and I published in the journal BMC Public…
Children are increasingly being given drugs by doctors to help teachers and parents cope with their troublesome behaviour. Certain behaviours or actions by children, such as not sitting still, are being…
It is still not clear how the experience of being bullied in childhood translates into long-lasting health problems. A new US study has found that victims of bullying have high levels of a protein in their…
It was reported last week that spending on youth services is down by one third, with some budgets cut by 78%. The cuts to youth service budgets have been called “disproportionate” by Tim Loughton, the…
Around half of teens who experience a brief episode of depression or anxiety do not go on to have a mental illness in adulthood, according to a study from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Half…
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary
Assistant professor, School of Psychology, Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Professor of Adolescent Health The University of Melbourne; Director, Royal Children's Hospital Centre for Adolescent Health, The University of Melbourne