Child Development and Mental Health

The CAG has brought together multi-disciplinary teams across the SHP, for the first time, to allow for conversations, collaboration and to generate outcomes that will:

• Bring together stakeholders (clinicians, researchers, consumers) to share knowledge and identify current issues and challenges for the field and to prioritise responses.
• Develop and test innovative automated digital tools and telehealth approaches to improve responsiveness of assessment and support for clinicians and families.
• Evaluate different models of care that integrate collaborative care, technology, and educational tools to optimise clinical care pathways to increase capacity, acceptability and effectiveness of assessments for children, families and their partners.
• Facilitate engagement with community advisory groups to partner the CAG, including caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental and associated mental health conditions and youth and adults with neurodevelopmental and associated mental health conditions.
• Promote a clinically integrated research hub for researchers and clinicians to engage in translational research and training to improve capacity and recognition.
• Engage with government, service and policy stakeholders to provide evidence-based advice and to respond to identified needs, to create meaningful dialogue and outcomes that improve systems and supports for neurodevelopment and associated mental health.

• Upskill the CAG membership in research translation knowledge and methods.
• Monthly seminar series to address these needs and equip members with the knowledge to involve community representatives in all aspects of their research.
• The CAG will hold workshops to build capacity in research translation in earlier career clinician researchers.