Mental health literacy for children within an Australian context

Mental health literacy (MHL) is an area that has evolved in educational psychology from the emergence and promotion of health literacy. Stigma surrounding mental illness presents a barrier to help seeking behaviour, however research has demonstrated that promoting MHL can improve understanding of mental health and reduce stigma that often surrounds mental illness. Increasing MHL among youth has the potential to increase help seeking behaviours and positive mental health that could benefit society in the future. Though according to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Agency (2020), social emotional learning (SEL) has recently started to be included in the Australian education system, MHL is not yet universal in education due to the lack of research and evidence-based programs currently available. The area of MHL is growing in education however more research is required to determine psychometrically sound programs that will benefit students wellbeing at school. Measures of MHL need to be validated in order to create consistency across the evaluation of different programs and ensure the programs have appropriate reliability and validity. SEL is used in the Australian education system and it would be beneficial to include MHL that aim to reduce stigma, increase help seeking behaviour and conversation to promote positive mental health. The aim of this presentation is to discuss a review of current MHL interventions in Australia finishing with implications for implementing and evaluating a USA developed school-based MHL program for youth within an Australian context.