The early years of secondary school, specifically ages 12 to 14, are characterised by rapid cognitive, emotional, and social development. Unfortunately, school-based mental health interventions often focus on older adolescents, overlooking this critical age group. This presentation highlights the development of two new mental health programs designed specifically for Year 7 and 8 students in Australia. These programs, led by batyr in collaboration with young people, aim to address the unique needs of this age group.

Grounded in developmental psychology and informed by young people's needs, the programs promote mental health literacy by focusing on essential skills, including emotional regulation, help-seeking, self-awareness, and social connection. The design of the programs is age-appropriate in both content and delivery, with storytelling drawn from lived experiences carefully adapted for younger audiences. We will outline how the program structure effectively balances engaging, interactive elements with safe, scaffolded learning experiences that resonate with this age group.

The presentation will detail the design process, including stakeholder consultations, pilot testing across various school contexts, and insights gained from ongoing improvements. We will also reflect on the challenges in creating programs for a cohort often overlooked in youth mental health, as well as the opportunities that arise when developmental needs are prioritised from the outset.

This session is relevant for program designers, educators, youth workers, and anyone interested in enhancing early intervention through community-led and developmentally responsive mental health promotion.

1. Delegates will understand why 12 to 14-year-olds are a critical but often overlooked group for mental health interventions.
2. Delegates will learn from our direct collaboration with young people about what they value in mental health learning and the issues programs should address.
3. Delegates will gain practical insights into designing, piloting, and refining programs that are engaging, safe, and responsive to the developmental needs of this age group.

The First 2000 days, from conception to five years of age, presents a critical window for shaping a child’s lifelong health and wellbeing. Rapid brain growth, social and emotional development, and the establishment of eating behaviours lay the foundation for future physical and mental health outcomes. Research and recent consultation reveal a range of ways in which policy and service touchpoints may either help or hinder positive foundational experiences. With experiences of weight stigma highly prevalent across fertility and antenatal care, significant social pressures regarding postpartum body image, wide differences in infant and child feeding practices, and evidence showing that children as young as three exhibit weight bias, the need for a comprehensive approach to health promotion which fosters positive relationships with food and body is clear.
The Eating Disorder Safe (ED Safe) principles offer a comprehensive framework for promoting body esteem and food peace across policy and service contexts. For the First 2000 Days, the ED Safe principles can be leveraged to support infants, children, families and their communities by equipping the professionals, services and systems that support them with evidence-based approaches to health promotion which minimise food, body and weight-related harm. In 2025-26, the National Eating Disorders Collaboration has been developing an implementation plan aimed at building a unified ED Safe response across the First 2000 days, so that policy and practice approaches are consistent and complementary across healthcare, early education, child and family services and beyond.
This presentation will be grounded in implementation science. It will report on findings to date in the development of the implementation plan and next steps towards roll-out. Attendees will learn about the process of developing a multi-sector implementation plan and hear key insights derived from this complex undertaking. A range of ED Safe implementation resources will be shared.

Approximately 1.66million families with dependant children are impacted mental illness placing the young people at elevated risk of poor mental health, self-harm, and social isolation. There is an urgent need for preventive interventions to reduce the risk of adverse mental health outcomes amongst this group. While nature-based programs are known to support mental health and wellbeing among young people, their role in preventive mental health for this population remains underexplored. Kookaburra Kids aimed to investigate the effects of nature-based mental health promotion programs among young people living in families impacted by mental illness.
Delivered nationally, Regenerate integrates mental health education with nature-based activities through delivery of activity days and camps for young people. 138 participants completed pre- and post-program surveys assessing mental health literacy, help seeking intentions and connection to nature. Analysis found that while baseline mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions were high, camp attendance significantly reduced the number of young people reporting they would not seek help from anyone. Activity days produced significant increases in connection to nature (p < .001). More than half of participants reported restored attention, reduced stress, and improved psychological wellbeing following nature activities.

Young people described strong enjoyment, new friendships, and a sense of respite. Ninety-three percent said they would attend again. Embedding nature-based activities within preventive mental health programs appears to foster psychological benefits and social connection among young people at risk of poor mental health outcomes.

By March 2026, a second year of program data analysis will be available, providing a richer dataset to examine sustained outcomes. This extended analysis will strengthen the evidence base for nature-based mental health promotion initiatives and support advocacy for broader policy recognition.

This work was supported by the Bupa Foundation, Principal Partner of the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation’s Regenerate program.

• What is the problem/issue that requires action? [Context and Aim]

Education should be a mental health and wellbeing positive, not a negative. Changes to tertiary education and its perception including the proliferation of online education, and the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence, are adding to pressures on students and to their likelihood of developing mental health problems. This presentation provides examples of how tertiary education can help to prevent rather than add to mental health problems.
What do we know or have we learned to address this problem/issue, and how has this finding been derived? [Methods and Analysis]

There is a large and growing research literature on the negative effects of the increasing threats to tertiary student mental health and wellbeing. The negative wellbeing and mental health related effects of education which is becoming increasingly virtual are particularly serious for high risk groups including international students.

• How has this been used in practice? [Outcomes]

Despite the rapid recent changes to our tertiary education world and the growth of education related wellbeing and mental health threats, student success is commonly seen as academic success, rather than whole student success, including wellbeing and mental health success. A change in focus is needed to enable the development and expansion of student wellbeing and mental health programs and resources that are integrated into a whole student success model.

• What actions should we take in the future to address the problem/issue? [Future actions]

At Torrens University we are systematically and strategically developing student wellbeing and mental health supporting programs, resources and understanding within a total student success focused framework. Examples of initiatives which could usefully be introduced into other tertiary education settings will be described in this presentation, and include:
• A wellbeing and mental health as well as study skills supporting orientation module and preliminary across courses unit
• A research program into the balanced use and understanding of Artificial Intelligence, for education good as well as evil
• The development of an Artificial Intelligence bot which will support student wellbeing and mental health, and identify at risk students

What is the problem/issue?

Many university students experience loneliness, which is correlated with decreased levels of wellbeing and poor mental health outcomes. Social connection often reduces loneliness, yet research about the quality and type of social connection that students benefit from has previously been underdeveloped. We will share our recent research findings about beneficial social connection pathways for students.

What do we know or have we learned to address this problem/issue, and how has this finding been derived?

Students were recruited to join a social-sharing network at an Australian university. They were randomly placed in pairs, meeting with their partner for an hour each week to share autobiographical stories and personal perspectives. After one month, students were interviewed about their experiences in the network. The interview transcripts were coded and analysed using the grounded theory methodology.

We found that students benefitted from being heard, connecting with new people, and intersubjective reflecting. Being heard happened through the attention of a focused listener, creating feelings of release and value. Connecting with new people happened through the enabling setting of regular and structured sharing meetings, and through stories which created meaning and empowerment. Intersubjective reflecting happened through comparisons with other students and follow up questions, which enabled new perspectives.

How has this been used in practice?

These approaches have been implemented in an online story-sharing circle for North-West Victorian residents during the Covid-19 Pandemic, at a long running story-sharing circle with students at a local library, and an in a university story-sharing network.

What actions should we take in the future?

Create more story-sharing networks at universities. Integrate story-sharing activities into existing university classes. Create story-sharing networks in libraries and community centres. Integrate story-sharing approaches into book clubs, craft groups, and other community-based activity groups.

Context: Youth mental illness is a leading public health concern associated with lifelong adverse outcomes. Existing mental ill-health prevention programs have shown mixed efficacy and have widely neglected critical social and identity-related factors. This presentation describes the outcomes from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the universal OurFutures Mental Health program to be trauma-informed and respond to disproportionate rates of mental illness among LGBTQA+ youth.

Methods: Program adaptation involved a multi-stage process including; course modification based on student evaluations (N=762, Mage=13.5 years), three student focus groups (N=39), regular meetings with an eight-member LGBTQA+ Youth Advisory Committee, and two individual semi-structured interviews with LGBTQA+ youth. In the next stage, a clinical psychologist thoroughly reviewed and updated program materials.

Subsequently, a cluster-RCT was conducted in 10 schools randomised to either the intervention or control condition. Primary outcomes were change in anxiety (GAD-7) and depression symptoms (PHQ-A) and mental health knowledge (intervention-specific measure), at 3-months post-baseline. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine changes in outcomes over time and the impact of the intervention.

Outcomes: A total of 784 Year 8-9 students (Mage=13.8 years, 37.6% female, 59.8% male, 1.5% other gender) completed the baseline assessment, and follow-up surveys at 6-weeks and 3-months post-baseline. A significant interaction was observed for the intervention condition at 3-months post-baseline for anxiety symptoms (B=-1.05, p=0.024), suggesting a greater reduction in anxiety over time in the intervention group compared to control. There were no significant differences in depression (B=-0.94, p=0.05). Knowledge was significantly higher in the intervention group at 6-weeks, but not at 3-months (B=0.30, p=0.339). Implementation outcomes, including student and staff feedback will also be presented.

Conclusion: The updated OurFutures Mental Health program is trauma-informed and LBGTQA+ affirmative. This presentation will provide practical information on the adaptation, implementation, and RCT of one of the first trauma-informed school-based programs.