Thursday, October 08, 2009

Kidsmatter initiative gets the thumbs up in Australia

Signs of mental-health problems can be identified in children at an early age, however, only about a quarter of them access mental-health services. Children's mental-health problems can affect their learning, friendships and ability to cope with and enjoy life as they get older. In Australia the Australian Psychological Society has developed an initiative called Kidsmatter and a range of resources for primary-school staff, parents and carers on 21 different topics relating to children's mental health. The project has just been independently evaluated and the evaluation found that it improved children's social and emotional wellbeing and increased parents' and teachers' knowledge of, and ability to support, children's mental health.

You can find out more about the evaluation at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166558.php

And the Kidsmatter website is at

www.kidsmatter.edu.au

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