Congratulations to Simon Craig and the team of researchers from Monash University, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, University of Western Australia, Melbourne University, Deakin University and the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network for receiving five million dollars in funding in the recently announced Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Million Minds Mission grant opportunity.
This grant was awarded for “The Kids are Not Okay: Emergency Department management of acute mental health crises in children and young people.”
A collaborative team of emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians and research experts has been formed to understand and improve care for children and adolescents presenting with acute mental health problems. The research, to be conducted across multiple hospitals across the PREDICT network, will include observational studies and clinical trials.
Speaking about the research Simon said, “We plan to explore factors which influence how staff care for these patients, and will develop – in partnership with patients, families and clinicians – priorities for research in this area. Our research team will also examine current practice and clinical outcomes for these patients, and conduct trials on an enhanced safety planning intervention to help patients with suicidal thoughts, and medication trials for acute severe behavioural disturbance.”
“Across Australia, there has been an alarming increase in the number of children and adolescents presenting to emergency departments with concerns relating to mental health such as self-harm, depression, and behavioural disturbance. This funding provides a wonderful opportunity for us to work out why mental health presentations to the ED are increasing and how to provide improved care to these patients.”