MUDRIH Wins Large Grant
Better outcomes for those affected by mental illness is the focus of two Monash University research projects that have received more than $4 million in combined funds from the Victorian Government.
In June, Minister for Mental Health Mary Wooldridge announced five projects to receive grants from the Victorian Coalition Government’s $10 million Mental Illness Research Fund.
One Monash grant was won by Associate Professor Darryl Maybery of Monash University’s Department of Rural and Indigenous Health (MUDRIH) and Dr. Andrea Reupert from Education (Krongold Centre) with $1,855,891 awarded to continue their research into support services for parents with a mental illness. They were partnered in the grant by Northern Area Mental Health Services, Family Life Shine, Parenting Research Centre, The Bouverie Centre, Eastern Health, University of Melbourne, Deakin University, Beyond Blue, Neami, and SANE Australia.
The four-year project, ‘Developing an Australian-first recovery model for parents in Victorian mental health and family services’, will trial specific interventions that engage families and children within specialist mental health and family services.
Associate Professor Maybery said ‘the Australian-first approach was expected to deliver significant mental health and wellbeing benefits to both parents and their children’.
‘The key question to be addressed by this project is how we can improve longer-term recovery of people with severe mental illness by addressing their parenting role as a core part of their treatment,’ Associate Professor Maybery said.
‘We know that between 21 to 23 per cent of all children at some stage have a parent with a mental health problem.’
‘Family interventions have important mental illness prevention benefits for children.
The five funding recipients were chosen from 43 submissions, based on the strength of their collaboration across different sectors, including the active and ongoing involvement of clients, their carers and families.