Background
Methods
Study design
Ethics
Setting, participants and recruitment
Data collection
Analysis
Terminology
Results
Barriers to mental wellbeing and coping mechanisms
Community level
In [capital city], there was a lot of resources; and when I come here, there's nothing […] There's a whole lot of issues with suicide and attempted suicide. I think there's a headspace, but I don't know where that is. I think it might be in [nearest city, two hours’ drive away]. Which is nowhere near here. We're in the middle of nowhere. It seems to me like there's a really high, a lot higher incidence of sexual assault and suicidal ideation here. I mean, it's really hard to compare these two populations, but it does seem that way to me. And there's no services. [Teacher_B4]
Family level
S1: I've seen parents who have engaged in their children's, like, dramas […] And it's so hard, because a lot of the behavioural issues do come from parents. Like, it often stems from like your roots […] S2: And how their parents deal with their own issues, there’s like, a lot of physical fighting in our community too. I definitely notice. [Female Student_B1]
School level
We've actually got massive waiting lists at the moment for students to see people with mental health training, counsellors, we've got, we've got an undersupply. We've got a school psychologist who's got waiting lists, we got a school counsellor who's got waiting lists and we've got a student support officer who's got a waiting list. [Teacher_F6]
[Teachers] have got so much on their plate with what they've got to do in learning outcomes and all that sort of stuff. They don't really have time to think about these things [referring to students’ mental health] as well. [Teacher_F11]
I feel on edge when I try to give the kids advice because I'm not trained in that, like I know myself, I've raised three kids, you know. I've done heaps in my life experience. But at the end of the day, I'm not a counsellor, I'm not a psychologist […] and yet we’re expected to be. [Teacher_B5]
We’ll have empathy for kids that have got really obvious issues, but then there's the other sort of kids that’ll be in your class, that exhibit disruptive sort of behaviour, and there might be some sort of issue behind that. And people are much less understanding of that, I mean, I find myself I’m much less understanding of that sort of behaviour than I was previously. [Teacher_B4]
Peer level
Individual level
Our feelings are so normalized that it's OK to be sad a lot of the time. It's OK to be angry all the time, which you don't want to be angry and sad all the time. That's not, it's OK to be sad and angry sometimes, but we don't want to do it all the time. And I think that's another issue. We don't register that something is wrong, you know […] it kind of doesn't process that it's not that's not how it has to be, like you can get help. But I don't think we realize that we need it. [Female Student_B1]
Suicidal self-harm, which self-harm just seems to periodically go with depression and anxiety, now, that's just how this coping strategy that young people have developed like they don't know what else to do that puts them in this next level. [Teacher_F8]
The whole idea of social media has become kind of destroyed by that image that like to have depression, you've got to be self-harming. [Female Student_B1]
Impact of COVID-19 compared to other stressors and major events
Mental health stigma
They don’t feel comfortable but yeah, or they think oh, that's a shame. I'm not going to be going to ask for help, like, people might tease me. [Female Student_B1]
Mental health solutions
Multi-pronged approach to mental health education
Local, face-to-face, free of charge mental health services
Relatable, engaging, and inspiring mental health programs
I think it was really good that [Y9 students] heard […] the story of that young girl […] she wasn't going anywhere. She had no money. She was homeless, living in a car […]. But the kids, really, they were captivated by her. I remember looking around when she was speaking and they were just staring at her, like, in awe, yeah. And a lot of kids, when they had to write a message about the program, wrote about her on their piece of paper. [Teacher_F10]