Professor Frank Oberklaid AM was the Foundation Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. He is currently Co-Group Leader of Child Health Policy, Equity and Translation at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. He has written 2 books and over 150 papers in scientific journals.
Frank has long standing clinical, research and policy interests in children’s health, development and wellbeing, and has chaired or been a member of numerous expert working groups at a state, national and international level, as well as being a consultant for the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. Most recently he was co-chair of the National Child Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy which outlines a detailed policy and service framework for child mental health in Australia.
Frank’s work has been recognised by a number of prestigious awards, and he has been the recipient of invited lectureships and visiting professor appointments in over 20 countries. He is the head of the team that developed the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) project, in the process of being rolled out to every school in Victoria, and led the development of the Children’s Wellbeing Continuum. Frank was also a member of the expert advisory group for the new Victorian Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO). He is the Victorian Senior Australian of the Year for 2023.
Presentation: New approaches to child mental health and wellbeing: Schools leading the change
Child mental health has finally attracted the attention of policy makers, a welcome development after many years of unsuccessful advocacy. However now the risk is that child mental health is seen through an adult (‘diagnose and treat’) lens and that opportunities for prevention and early intervention will be missed. Primary schools are an ideal universal platform to address child mental health and wellbeing; teachers are often the first professionals to notice early signs of emerging problems, and are able to provide scaffolding and support to prevent more serious problems from developing. This presentation will highlight the role that schools are playing in refocusing efforts away from treating problems towards prevention and early intervention – an important and sustainable shift of the pendulum.