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About

MindMatters is a national mental health initiative for secondary schools funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and implemented by Principals Australia (formerly APAPDC).

MindMatters uses a whole school approach to mental health promotion based on the principles of the World Health Organization's Global School Health Initiative and the Australian National Health Promoting Schools Framework (pdf, 207kb).

MindMatters aims to:

• embed promotion, prevention and early intervention activities for mental health and wellbeing in Australian secondary schools
• enhance the development of school environments where young people feel safe, valued, engaged and purposeful
• develop the social and emotional skills required to meet life’s challenges
• help school communities create a climate of positive mental health and wellbeing
• develop strategies to enable a continuum of support for students with additional needs in relation to mental health and wellbeing
• enable schools to better collaborate with families and the health sector.

MindMatters resource suite

The MindMatters resource suite supports Australian secondary schools to promote and protect the mental health and wellbeing of school community members. It includes:

• a resource kit for secondary schools
• a Professional Development Calendar
• a website
• evaluation reports.

Achievements

• Staff from 82% of all schools with secondary student enrolments in Australia have attended MindMatters professional development.
• Over 120,000 Australian and international participants have undertaken professional development.
• 71% of Australian secondary schools have used MindMatters.
• 52% of the Australian secondary schools surveyed continue to use MindMatters as a curriculum resource.
• 18% of Australian secondary schools use MindMatters as their key organiser for mental health promotion.