MRFF Million Minds funding for research into the emergency department management of acute mental health crises in children and young people

A team of ten Australian researchers, including Dr. Rohan Borschmann from the Justice Health Unit, have received five million dollars in funding from the recently-announced Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Million Minds Mission grant opportunity.

Led by Associate Professor Simon Craig, an Emergency Physician at Monash Health and researcher at Monash University and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, this grant was awarded for the project "The Kids are Not Okay: Emergency Department management of acute mental health crises in children and young people."

The project, which involves seven separate studies, aims to improve acute mental health care and ensure the highest quality care for children and young people presenting to the emergency department for mental health-related reasons including self-harm and suicidal ideation, anxiety, and acute behavioural disturbance. Areas of work will include: understanding research needs and variation in practice, describing current practice and outcomes, testing innovative methods to improve care, and developing knowledge translation practises.

Other Investigators on this grant include researchers from Monash University, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), University of Western Australia, Melbourne University, Deakin University and the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network.