Response Ability

Response Ability is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health. It aims to promote the social and emotional wellbeing, or mental health, of children and young people. The project is implemented by Hunter Institute of Mental Healthin partnership with tertiary educators throughout Australia. What Do We Do? The Response Ability te... am supports the pre-service training of school teachers and early childhood educators, regarding mental health issues in children and young people. We do this through: Providing free, evidence-based multi-media teaching resources to Australian tertiary institutions. Providing additional information through conference presentations, on our website, and by other means. Providing professional support to tertiary educators to help them integrate mental health into their program. Why Promote Mental Health in Children and Young People? Mental health problems and disorders contribute significantly to the range of health issues seen in Australia today and to the costs of treatment and management, as well as the personal burden of ill health on individuals and their families. Working with children and young people is one potentially cost-effective way to address the impact of mental health difficulties in our community, both today and into the future. Many mental health problems and disorders have their onset in childhood or adolescence, or are related to important risk and protective factors that have an impact in childhood or adolescence. To improve mental health outcomes for Australians, we need to reduce the incidence or impact of risk factors, build up people's protective factors and help children and adolescents to access support early if difficulties do arise.Read More