Student Wellbeing Seminar - Sydney - In Person

Anxiety in our young people is a growing issue for our schools and our society. A study conducted by Professor McGorry and his colleagues found that almost a third (32 percent) of 16-24-year-old Australians suffer from an anxiety disorder. The problem begins even earlier, with seven percent of 11-year-olds suffering from an anxiety disorder. Much of students’ mental ill-health is progressive like this, and it tends to get worse before it gets better.

This affects their performance both academically and socially.

McGorry et al reported that mental ill health now accounts for at least 45 percent of the overall burden of disease in those aged 10–24 years. Globally, mental disorders are among the leading causes of disability in this age group. Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–44.

This is nothing short of a crisis, yet for many of you these numbers would not be surprising. They reflect what you see every day: young people overwhelmed by pressure, paralysed by perfectionism, or disengaging from school and life altogether.

The good news is this trend can be reversed with early intervention strategies. It starts with changing how significant adults respond to anxiety – in homes, in classrooms, and across communities.

That’s why we are holding this seminar.

The research shows that you can't just ‘plug and play’ a program, because unfortunately it won't work.

Ideally, you need a whole-school approach embedded into the school’s strategic plan that builds a project slowly over time. It has to involve transforming the culture in a way that takes into account all stakeholders; teachers, parents and students.

Professor McGorry will deliver the keynote address: “The landscape of child and youth mental health: Trends and mega trends.” He will then join Associate Professor Terry Laidler, Chair of Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, for a conversation about young people’s mental ill-health, before taking questions from the audience.

Michael Hawton, lead psychologist for The Anxiety Project and the Resilience in our Teens projects, will speak about “Moving beyond traditional one-to-one therapy models of treatment to whole-school solutions for treating child and teen anxiety; how UNICEF avoids bottlenecks in the implementation of social change projects.”

You will hear case studies from three schools detailing their successes, challenges, and learnings, presented by school leaders. NSWPPA principal, Rob Walker, and psychologist, Ruby Otero, AAPI, will present the research results in both primary and secondary projects. Ruby Otero will also present a session on teacher burnout discussing what it is, signs to look out for, and some strategies for intervention. Following this, Michael Hawton and Hayley Cravigan, state project manager, will run through what a great implementation plan looks like, including key dates, processes, timelines, and getting staff on board.

We know that schools and teachers care for students’ wellbeing but often feel like they don’t have the time or the resources to make a difference. We’re here to tell you that you can, with small adjustments to conversations you are already having with students, make significant improvements to their mental health and wellbeing. These are research-led, data-backed, best practice projects that are already making a big difference in hundreds of Australian schools, with thousands of Australian students.

Please join us on 19 August and together let’s turn this crisis around.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Learn how ‘unhelpful’ accommodations of student anxiety are actually making anxiety worse in Australian schools.
• Reports (from primary and high school leaders and teachers) where the project is operating.
• Hear about the research that has been done by independent researchers into the projects.
• Find out how our comprehensive population-change approach is producing sustainable change compared with a limited one-on-one therapy model.
• Upon request we can provide you with a PowerPoint presentation, videos and other resources for you to share with colleagues. Learn how to prevent teacher burnout and improve teacher wellbeing.

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