Education Commons^™

Although there is increasing recognition internationally of the significance of social and emotional health and wellbeing for the healthy development of young people, the levels of support that governments provide for mental health policy and program initiatives vary widely. In this paper, consideration is given to Australia's approach to mental health promotion from early years to secondary school, including specific reference to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. Although it is now well established that schools provide important settings for the promotion of mental health initiatives, there are significant challenges faced in effectively implementing and …

It is well accepted that education is positively related to health, and that schools can play a key role in promoting healthy behaviours and attitudes. Improving our understanding of the relationship between education and health will help to identify where interventions, such as KidsMatter, are most appropriate and effective in mproving both individual and population health. KidsMatter Primary is the Australian mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. As an intervention, KidsMatter acts to make this relationship explicit, by providing an educative framework to promote student mental health and wellbeing, which further facilitates a cycle of improved educational and …

"Provides a significant overview of the matter of mental health and wellbeing with particular reference to educational contexts ... Presents an authoritiative and diverse account of: links between wellbeing and learning; interventions and initiatives in the field; evidence based practice guidelines; policy and practice examples." -- Back cover.