Voluntary Mental Health Check Tool
My Mind Check – a new mental health check tool for Australian schools
Macquarie University has been provided with funding following a successful tender by the Australian Government Department of Education to develop a free, online, voluntary mental health check tool for all Australian schools.
My Mind Check will be freely available for all schools to use, across all school sectors, Australian states and territories in Term 2 2024.
Schools can sign up for more information now, via the My Mind Check website and will then be able to register for the service in Term 2 2024.
Schools will have access to their own students’ results and will also have access to summary results at grade and whole school levels. The data will be securely stored in compliance with all relevant federal government regulations and policies.
About the tool
The tool will help schools with early identification of mental health and wellbeing concerns amongst students and provide schools with guidance to support students.
Schools will have access to:
- Be available for primary and secondary schools in all locations across Government and non-Government sectors
- Be free to use, via funding by the Australian Government
- Include both mental health and wellbeing questions
- Based on scientifically proven and evidence-based research
- Provide a check-in and identify students who self-report they are struggling at a given point in time (it is not a diagnostic tool)
- Provide schools with individual and group insights
- Give schools information to guide decisions to support students
Why use the tool?
Poor mental health affects about 14% of children1, which can significantly impact their educational potential.
By Year 9, young people experiencing mental health concerns are on average two years behind their peers academically2.
Research shows that by conducting mental health and wellbeing checks in schools, we can improve mental health and reduce school absences.
1 ABS 2015; Polanczyk et al., 2015
2 Goodsell et al, 2017
Benefits for schools
The Voluntary Mental Health Check Tool aims to help schools:
- Quickly identify students struggling with mental health and wellbeing at a given point in time.
- Provides individual summary information with follow-up guidelines for schools to help support students.
- Increase awareness of the current state of wellbeing amongst their students, to facilitate student support.
- To identify changes in the mental health and wellbeing of their students over time.
Supported by evidence
In 2021-22, Macquarie University researchers, led by Distinguished Professor Ron Rapee, trialled a pilot digital school mental health check program with 14,000 students across 64 schools in New South Wales, supported by funding from The BUPA Foundation. The study revealed that students who participated in routine check-ins reported:
- Significantly lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to their peers who did not take part.
- Spent fewer days absent from school compared to their peers who did not take part.
Feedback from schools, parents and teachers who participated in the program was overwhelmingly positive.
Macquarie University is combining research insights with feedback from the education and mental health sectors to create a tool that meets the needs of schools, teachers and students across Australia.
The service is directed by Dr Lauren McLellan, who has led digital mental health services and research at Macquarie University for the last nine years.
Find out more
The service will be available for schools to use in Term 2 2024.
Schools, parents and community members can register to:
- receive more information
- be notified about when the service is launched.
Content owner: Department of Psychology Last updated: 14 Feb 2024 11:32am