Graduate Diploma in Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education

Program Overview

This Graduate Diploma in Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education is designed to equip educators and professionals working with children and adolescents in an era of growing concern about mental health. It explores theory, empirical research, and professional practice in mental health and wellbeing in education, providing strategies for implementation with individual children and adolescents and the development of whole school positive wellbeing programs. The program comprises four units delivered over one year, with weekly contact time of approximately 6 hours.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This Graduate Diploma in Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education is designed for educators and professionals working with children and adolescents in an era of growing concern about mental health and wellbeing. It explores theory, empirical research and professional practice in mental health and wellbeing in education.

Outline:

The program comprises four units, each delivered over four days of intensive study during school holidays, covering the theoretical and practical basis of mental health and emotional wellbeing and practical application.

Core Units:

• EDUC5010 Assessing and Interpreting Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing (6 points): This unit focuses on understanding factors impacting upon mental health and emotional wellbeing, how mental health and emotional wellbeing impacts academic, social and adaptive functioning, and interpreting research findings regarding mental health and emotional wellbeing.
• EDUC5011 Promoting Child and Adolescent Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing (6 points): This unit explores the evidence base underpinning programs that support positive mental wellbeing and develops skills in evaluating the effectiveness of such programs.
• EDUC5012 Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing: Translating Theory into Practice (6 points): This unit focuses on developing, implementing and evaluating mental health and emotional wellbeing programs in educational contexts.
• EDUC5639 Childhood and Adolescent Developmental Psychopathology (6 points): This unit provides a comprehensive understanding of the developmental pathways of mental health problems in children and adolescents.

Course Schedule:

• The program is delivered part-time over one year.
• Each unit includes four days of intensive face-to-face teaching (usually in school holiday periods).
• The course coordinator is Professor Stephen Houghton, a specialist in child psychology and adolescent behaviour.

Careers:

This course is ideal for teachers, school based psychologists, school leaders and those involved in pastoral care in the early childhood, primary and secondary sectors who would like to undertake professional development in child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing.

Other:

• For a significant and growing number of children and adolescents, mental health problems result in adverse immediate and longer-term effects on emotion regulation and academic learning.
• In 2001, the World Health Organisation predicted that childhood and adolescent mental health problems would become one of the leading causes of morbidity, mortality and disability worldwide by 2020.
• In response, governments worldwide have prioritised developing positive mental wellbeing within their education sectors.