Prof. Tim Wand, Amanda Keaton, Sharlene Cruikshank, Kate Molnar, Lachlan Swan, Julia Heffernan, Katherine Riley, Stuart Enslie

Area of Study: Illawarra Shoalhaven NSW

This collaborative project involving clinicians, local peer worker and Aboriginal health representatives and managers aims to develop, implement, and evaluate a place-based psychotherapeutic skills training program for staff at the Shoalhaven and Milton Hospital EDs for responding to people with mental health, substance use and other health concerns. Building psychotherapeutic skills of rural ED staff is central to establishing an environment that is supportive, trauma informed, non-judgemental and thereby enabling a beneficial and positive experience for people presenting to ED.

Empowering regional and rural families to support the mental health of school refusing children and adolescents: can the Parent Hope Program be part of the solution?

Recipients: Dr Nicole Reilly, Dr Monica Birrento

Area: Illawarra Shoalhaven NSW

Australian reform agendas recognise the urgency of improving the mental health of children and adolescents. In tandem with this, there has been a growing resolve to address increasing rates of school refusal and low school attendance and to reduce its impact on young people and their families. Can embedding Parent Hope – a recovery-focused parent empowerment program – in child and adolescent mental health services help achieve this goal?

The Peregrine Centre is supporting researchers from the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine and clinical partners from School-Link and ISLHD CAYMHS teams in Wollongong and Nowra to lead a mixed-methods evaluation of the Parent Hope program. This 12-month project will discover whether delivery of the Parent Hope Program in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region is beneficial for young people and their parents and carers, and if it can be efficiently implemented and expanded in ever-evolving clinical and policy environments. Outcomes of this research will be shared in 2026 – stay tuned!

Implementation of GP-led ADHD management model of care in regional NBMLHD

Recipients: Dr Sviatlana Kamarova, Dr Alison Poulton & Prof. Steve Kamper

Area: Nepean Blue Mountains LHD (Lithgow)

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects around 8-10% of children and up to 5% of adults. However, ADHD is now recognised as a lifelong condition, with 60–86% of individuals carrying symptoms into adulthood. In Australia, ADHD estimated costs are $28 billion/year. Adults with ADHD have higher rates of suicide, substance use disorder, substance use, while children experience difficulties with socialisation and learning. There is a higher prevalence of ADHD diagnoses among children living in rural and regional areas compared to metropolitan urban areas. The problem is that access to such care is often limited.

General practice (GP) is an ideal setting for providing family-focused supportive therapy. This has been supported by international research and early evidence from metropolitan NBMLHD. Both the Senate report into ADHD services and the Australian ADHD Professional Association called for urgent exploration of GP-shared care or collaborative care model for ADHD. In July 2025, NSW Ministry of Health introduced a policy for GPs to become a part of ADHD care, which can reduce costs and increase access.

This project will allow us to tailor the GP-led ADHD management model of care from metropolitan to regional area, translating policy and practice into contextual demands and needs.

Co-Designing a Dog Wellbeing Program: Bridging Gaps in Mental Health Support for Indigenous Children in Remote Communities

Recipients: Prof. Bindi Bennett, Grant Shannon, Jed Peisley

Area: Hunter / New England

The Wellbeing Dog Project is an innovative co-design initiative developed collaboratively with the Aboriginal community of Boggabilla. This project seeks to enhance community wellbeing by leveraging the unique bond between people and dogs, incorporating culturally grounded knowledge and local perspectives. Through active community participation, the project aims to co-create a culturally responsive dog wellbeing program tailored specifically to the community’s needs and values.

Community members will be engaged in meaningful conversations and story-sharing activities, contributing essential insights about cultural practices, dog care, and wellbeing strategies that benefit families and youth. Community voices are integral to shaping the program, ensuring its cultural relevance and sustainability. The outcomes anticipated include improved emotional resilience and social connectedness among young people, strengthened community cohesion, and enhanced understanding and practices regarding canine care and companionship.

The Wellbeing Dog Project exemplifies respectful collaboration, cultural responsiveness, and a commitment to shared community outcomes, positioning the Boggabilla Aboriginal community as leaders in defining and nurturing wellbeing through culturally meaningful approaches.

Developing and testing a media-based campaign with older men in rural and metropolitan NSW

Recipients: Mr Grant Duthie, Prof Nicki Reavley, A/Prof Amy Morgan, and Dr Hao Xu

Area of Study: NSW

Older men, those aged over 65, are among the least likely groups to use mental health services, while older men living in rural areas may be even less likely to access support. Media campaigns represent a promising and economical avenue to reach large audiences, with the potential to shift attitudes around mental health and encourage proactive responses to mental health. This project aims to develop a targeted media campaign for older men in rural and metropolitan areas to increase awareness and promote more positive mental health responses. To ensure the campaign is effective and engaging, the project will involve a series of co-design workshops with older men from rural and metropolitan communities. It will also conduct a randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of these messages in shifting attitudes and responses towards mental health concerns. By addressing issues around stigma and cultural barriers among older men, this project could transform the narrative around mental health and empower older men to play a more active role in their mental health and that of those around them, ultimately improving quality of life.

Co-designing a graduate program tailored to retaining social
workers in rural and regional public mental health services

Recipients: Jessica Jeffreys, Senior Social Worker, NNSWLHD Associate Professor Louise Whitaker

Area of Study: NSW

Mental health services in rural and regional Australia continue to struggle to attract and retain social work workforce. Since introducing a social work program in 2013, Southern Cross University (SCU) social work academics have collaborated with mental health social workers in the local health district toward developing an academic/ industry partnership building clinical capacity and research capability in the social work workforce. A workforce pipeline has been established from classroom to early and mid-career where local health district staff inform and deliver the SCU mental health social work curriculum, supervise SCU social work students on placement and, collaborate in practice based research with SCU mental health social work academics. This pipeline has successfully attracted practice ready social work graduates into regional public mental health service.  More work is needed on retention. Allied health graduate programs are associated with successful staff retention. However, to our knowledge graduate programs have not been specifically tailored to social work and translated to regional and rural conditions. Using participatory action research, this project seeks to investigate what enables newly recruited social workers to transition and settle into regional public mental health and alcohol and other drug services. Funding from the Rural Mental Health Partnership Small Grant program is deeply appreciated as, in addition to addressing this research question, it enables academics and practitioners to collaborate on this research, and, in doing so, consolidate and expand the academic/ industry research partnership.