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Background
Teenage suicide and other mental health concerns had been on the increase in Australia for the last 100 years. This was an increase that could not be ignored.
As an example of this the suicide rates for males aged 15 - 24 years increased 350% from 1964 to 1997. This alarming increase led to the federal and state governments of Australia uniting behind Australia's first suicide prevention strategy, the National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy (NYSPS) in 1995. This was replaced in 1999 with the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS) as suicide impacted on many groups other than youth.
Funding from NSPS was combined with funding from the National Mental Health Strategy (NMHS) to support mental health promotion among young people. One initiative that was undertaken from these strategies was the development of the MindMatters resources and professional development program to support Australian secondary schools in promoting and protecting the social and emotional wellbeing of members of school communities. The MindMatters initiative was aimed at health promotion, prevention and early intervention universally for all secondary students.
The implementation of MindMatters highlighted the need for specially targeted and tailored interventions for those students with high mental health needs, in addition to a general health awareness and promotion initiative for all students. Consequently, the MindMatters Plus initiative was designed to extend the work of MindMatters, in terms of addressing the needs of those students with high support needs in the area of mental health. The MindMatters Plus initiative was established in 17 Secondary schools representing all Australian States, Territories and Education systems. The MindMatters Plus Initiative ran in the Demonstration schools from the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2005. After that the ongoing work of compiling and disseminating the Learnings continued through 2006 and into 2007.
The MindMatters Plus initiative was funded federally through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA). The Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council (APAPDC) and the Australian Division of General Practice (ADGP) worked in partnership with the Australian Guidance and Counselling Association (AGCA) to realise the goals of this project. Numerous excellent Resources were developed through this partnership. Many of the APAPDC and ADGP resources can be located from their websites about the initiative at www.apapdc.edu.au or www.adgp.com.au .
The Web Pages
The Web pages you are viewing are the end result of the efforts of many individuals. These pages acknowledge the many people who worked on the AGCA component of MindMatters Plus.
The MindMatters Plus Initiative
Early in 2002 the Department of Health and Ageing approached Heather McLoughlin (AGCA-ACT) about being involved in the MindMatters Plus initiative. This led to Coosje Griffiths (AGCA-Membership Secretary) writing a submission and ultimately to Sue Hawick (AGCA-President) signing a contract with the Department of Health and Ageing to co-manage the Initiative with APAPDC until the end of 2003. ADGP joined the partnership a little later. Sue Hawick, Heather McLoughlin and Coosje Griffiths formed the initial AGCA Executive Group to manage the AGCA part of the Project. Sue Hawick, as AGCA President, became the Project Manager. Royce Herbert (AGCA-Treasurer) became the Financial Manager from the beginning and right through the Project. Later in 2002 Helen Broomhall (Clinical Psychologist, South Australia) was appointed as the AGCA Professional Officer to organise the operations of the Project. Helen Broomhall commenced work in September and was located alongside the APAPDC partners in the MindMatters buildings in Adelaide.
Helen Broomhall developed the links with the 17 Demonstration Schools and their local partnerships in every State and Territory in Australia. Helen developed the legal contracts with the Providers of the Programs to be used in the initiative. Helen organised and assisted with the professional development provided to the Demonstration School personnel and all the other tasks required in the MindMatters Plus contract. The Project in the Demonstration schools got underway at the start of 2003.
Martha Doyle, an Irish woman based in Sydney, was employed in June 2003 as the Research and Development Officer for the initiative. Martha then commenced the work on researching the national and international literature on programs, processes and strategies for secondary students with high support needs in the area of mental health. This was the forerunner of the "Index of Programs and Resources" and many other Resources on this website.
In September 2003 Royce Herbert was elected President of AGCA and became the Project Manager for the Initiative for the next two years. Late in 2003 Royce and Helen Broomhall were invited to meetings with the Department of Health and Ageing and the Initiative co-partners to be informed that the evaluators had recommended running the Initiative for two more years until the end of 2005 and the Department of Health and Ageing would fund this.
Martha Doyle returned to Ireland early in 2004 and Sarah Anderson (Clinical Psychologist, South Australia) took over her duties in February 2004 as the Research and Development Officer. Sarah worked continuously with the MindMatters Plus Initiative from then until now. She has been mainly responsible for the research on the Programs and other Resources of the "Index of Programs and Resources" that is currently available on this Website. From late 2005 until early 2007 Katie Shriner (South Australia) has been assisting Sarah Anderson with this work.
Helen Broomhall scaled down her work as the MindMatters Plus Professional Officer early in 2004 but still continued her support of the Project until September 2004 particularly assisting the Demonstration schools in conjunction with the APAPDC Professional Officer. To help manage the MindMatters Plus Initiative Royce Herbert worked part time from July 2004 until early 2006 as both Project Manager and Executive Officer. Royce, together with Sarah Anderson, maintained the AGCA part of the MindMatters Plus initiative until Annette Shriner (AGCA, South Australia) was appointed in April 2005 as the Professional Officer. Annette then continued Helen Broomhall's work with the Demonstration Schools and extended this by gathering the Learnings from this Project about effectively increasing the capacity of Secondary School Communities to assist students with high support needs in the area of Mental Health. These Learnings were largely reinforced by the evaluation of the MindMatters Plus Initiative undertaken by the Australian Institute of Primary Care based at LaTrobe University.
Other consultants had been engaged by the AGCA to develop aspects of the MindMatters Plus initiative. Helen Kerr-Roubicek (AGCA, NSW) developed papers on the engagement of students and teacher's impressions about how to effectively engage with high support needs students. Sarah Anderson worked with Helen Kerr-Roubicek on much of this such as developing the insightful "Staff/Student Connection" material on this website. Arising from this was the research that Roger Holdsworth (Melbourne University) did on "Unheard Voices": what students with high needs were saying themselves about their situation. This led to the production of other resources on this website such as the instructional movie about "Students Supporting Students". "Effective School Case Management" has been another resource full of useful self-appraisal guidelines for schools and mental health professionals to improve their support for students with high support needs. Terry deJong (Edith Cowan University) did most of the research to develop this.
The MindMatters Plus initiative funded the AGCA each year to produce a Special Edition of the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling. Each Special Edition focussed on matters relating to Mental Health promotion, prevention and early intervention in secondary schools, and included field reports coming out of the work on MindMatters Plus. The editor, Robyn Gillies (AGCA, Qld), ensured that the papers provided for the diversity of interests amongst the readers.
There have been many other people involved in the development of the Learnings and the materials of this website. Most of them are acknowledged on the MindMatters Plus webpages containing their material. Two that should be mentioned include Marilyn Campbell (AGCA, Qld) and Kevin Glasheen (AGCA, Qld) for their seminal work on "Early Identification" and "Online Counselling" that link directly from the Home Page of this website. Another important name that is not visible though is that of the web designer, Jeremy Phillips (Western Australia), who has done all the work of taking the content of the MindMatters Plus initiative and turning it into the interactive experience that makes these pages so absorbing.
Behind the individuals named above were many others to ensure the relevance and appropriateness of the activities conducted and the materials produced. For the AGCA part of MindMatters Plus this came in part from the management provided by the AGCA Executive Committee. Very important was the support and direction provided by the MindMatters Plus Advisory Committee that represented the other organisations and committees involved in MindMatters, the State, Catholic and Independent School systems and adolescent Mental Health organisations from around Australia including the Department of Health and Ageing. Most importantly for the day to day functioning for the MindMatters Plus initiative was the support provided by our colleagues from APAPDC, ADGP and staff, students and communities of the Demonstration Schools.
The People
AGCA Executive Committee
Coosje Griffiths (WA) 2002 to 2007
Heather McLoughlin (ACT) 2002 to 2006
Sue Hawick (NSW) 2002 to 2003
Royce Herbert (SA) 2003 to 2007
Grania McCudden (WA) 2005 to 2007
Robyn Gillies (Qld) 2006 to 2007
MINDMATTERS PLUS Advisory Committee
Each of the following were involved in one or more Advisory Committee activities.
Heather McLoughlin (ACT) AGCA
Jeremy Hurley (SA) APAPDC
Jo Mason (SA) MindMatters
Tracy Zilm (SA) MindMatters
Louise Rowling (NSW) MM Evaluation Committee
Cath Behan (Vic) MM Education Committee
Roseanna Spina (Vic) MM Education Committee
Sharon Larkin (NT) ATSI Committee
Rupert Macgregor (ACT) Families Matter
Stuart Hearne (NSW) Education Systems
George MacKay (NSW) Education Systems
Roger Stonehouse (NSW) Education Systems
Annabel Hanke (Tas) Mental Health Practitioner
Victoria Wade (SA) General Practice
Simone Caynes (Qld) Mental Health Policy
Ivan Frkovic (Qld) Mental Health Policy
AGCA Professional Officer
Helen Broomhall 2002 to 2004
Annette Shriner 2005 to 2006
AGCA Research and Development Officer
Sarah Anderson 2004 to 2007
AGCA Research Assistant
Katie Shriner 2005 to 2007
AGCA Project Manager
Sue Hawick (NSW) 2002 to 2003
Royce Herbert (SA) 2003 to 2006
Grania McCudden (WA) 2006 to 2007
AGCA Consultants
Helen Kerr-Roubicek (NSW) Student/Staff Connection
Roger Holdsworth (Vic) Student Engagement
Terry deJong (WA) Effective School Case Management
Editor of the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Robyn Gillies (Qld) 2002 to 2007
AGCA Finance Manager
Royce Herbert (SA) 2002 to 2007
AGCA WebPage Designer
Jeremy Phillips (WA) 2004 to 2007
Royce Herbert
AGCA, South Australia
February 2007
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