Professor Vanessa Cobham codesigned the Momentum platform with Queensland young people and their families
Queensland children and their families will have immediate access to help with mental health issues thanks to a new resource, built in collaboration with Children’s Health Queensland researchers.
The online platform, Momentum, brings vital evidence-informed treatments, tools and techniques to the fingertips of seven to 17-year-olds who are experiencing common mental health issues like anxiety, and depression.
Momentum also offers help with sleep difficulties, as well as information on wellbeing, seeking help and information about substance use for adolescents.
Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ) and University of Queensland (UQ) Professor Vanessa Cobham was one of the chief investigators on the project and said the platform was codesigned with Queensland young people and their families, from the ground up.
“We held a number of workshops with young people and separately with parents, caregivers and clinicians to understand what they wanted from an online mental health platform,” Professor Cobham said.
“Once we had a working prototype, more young people, parents and caregivers were involved in testing and providing feedback on every aspect of the program, from the wording around sensitive questions, to how they wanted the information presented, for example in videos or text.”
“We are confident that this will increase the likelihood that children and young people will engage with the program and that clinicians will refer families to the program”.
The innovative platform was a collaborative project developed by Children’s Health Queensland researchers in partnerships with Griffith University, The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, The Australian National University, Federation University and the lead institution, the University of Southern Queensland.
The research was supported by the Australian Government under the Medical Research Future Fund.
The $5 million project also received additional input from industry partners Kids Helpline, Stride, Education Queensland, West Moreton Health, and Darling Downs and West Moreton Primary Health Network.
Read the full Fight against children’s mental health crisis gains Momentum media release.