A national workforce survey of children’s mental health
In this episode, Dr Melinda Goodyear and Claire Marsh discuss the results of the Emerging Minds National Workforce Survey of Parent, Family and Child Mental Health 2020–21.
Mel and Claire are Manager and Senior Research Officer (respectively) in the Research and Evaluation team at Emerging Minds. Over the past five years, they have been committed to understanding how the workforce responds to children’s mental health, including successes, challenges and support needs.
The 2020–21 Emerging Minds National Workforce Survey was completed by 1,518 professionals, consisting mainly of social services professionals, mental health workers, child and family clinicians and educators. It provided strong insights into the experiences and needs of professionals who work to support the mental health of children and families.
One of the major themes to emerge from the survey was the growing commitment to children’s mental health throughout Australia’s social services workforce. This commitment has meant that professionals are very honest and clear about the challenges they encounter in their roles.
The workforce’s response to infant mental health was one challenge that stood out for Mel and Claire. In this episode, they describe this challenge in detail, as well as the ways that organisations can help practitioners to support the mental health and wellbeing of infants in their work with parents and families.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- how the first Emerging Minds National Workforce Survey of Parent, Family and Child Mental Health came about [2:17]
- the main practice challenges regarding children’s mental health that were described by practitioners within the survey [5:58]
- the challenges of early identification of mental health difficulties in infants and the support needs of Australian practitioners [7:05]
- how recognition and understanding of children’s mental health needs is growing throughout Australia [13:11]
- the next steps to consider in workforce development, practice improvement and practitioner confidence in providing early identification and prevention strategies for infants and children [16:45]
- how practitioners’ commitment to children’s mental health has grown over time and how professionals are striving to improve the mental health of all children [22:00]
Further resources:
From co-design to co-creation: Building responsive relationships and delivering outcomes with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations article (Emerging Minds)