Online resource launched to help educators connect parents to mental health support

An Australian Government funded parenting website, raisingchildren.net.au, has launched a new resource, designed to support those working with families who may need assistance to identify and access mental health support, for themselves or for their children. 

Described as “an easy-access A–Z toolkit on child, teenage and parent mental health and wellbeing” the freely available, evidence based resource contains  nearly 200 up-to-date articles, videos and guides to assist early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals to connect parents to trusted help and support.

The new resource was designed with the changing landscape on mental health in mind, as mental wellbeing and ill-health become increasingly recognised as an issue and a more significant topic of public conversation, and is suitable for use by a number of different profession types.

Mental health resources from Raising Children Network on Vimeo.

With research showing that more than 13 per cent of children aged between four and eleven years in Australia have experienced a diagnosable mental health condition in the past 12 months, and with international studies indicating that 16–18 per cent of children aged birth to five years suffer from a mental health condition, the resource is of importance to those in the ECEC sector.

The toolkit can be used to quickly connect families with impartial, commercial free information on a variety of topics including depression, eating disorders, gender identity, risky behaviour, autism, anger management and many more.

To browse the toolkit, download resources, or refer parents, please see here.