Healthy Minds Program

Healthy Minds Education & Training

Healthy Minds teaches students thinking skills that prevent or reduce risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders and body image issues.

Overview

Alignment with Be You Domains

Learning Resilience

Alignment with Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)

Children are confident and involved learners
Children have a strong sense of wellbeing

Alignment with Australian Curriculum

Health and PE

Target audience

Early learning
Primary school
Secondary school

Target groups

Whole class
Whole school

Aims

Healthy Minds aims to prevent the onset of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. By teaching a core set of psychological skills, reducing specific, broad risk factors, and building specific, broad protective factors young people can be supported to foster robust mental health and resilience. Course components include students, teachers and parents.

Program theory

The program's development was informed by transdiagnostic theory, preventive psychology, cognitive behavioural approaches, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), self-compassion, media literacy, elements of positive psychology (gratitude), social learning theory and evolutionary theory.

Topics

The Wellbeing Wheel (six factors that support good mental health), challenging unhelpful perfectionism and looking for the benefits in mistakes, challenges and failures, the cognitive model (the role of thoughts in causing feelings).

Cost

Costs range from the full term-long program (approx $18,000) to supplementary components such as professional development workshops and parent events.

Program structure

Eight group presentations for Year 8, with 8 corresponding classroom lessons. Lessons are usually weekly for 8 weeks of one term (negotiable).

Instructor

Psychologist
Educator

Instructor training

One-day teacher training for the educator delivering the classroom component. Training is usually at the school, or at a combined training day at an off-site location.

Supporting resources or materials available with program

Manual
Online webinars
Posters
Workbook

Ongoing support

Available for ongoing support by phone, email, or in person. The Healthy Minds facilitator (of the group sessions, for example) is generally a registered psychologist and is on-site for at least 10 visits throughout the program each year.

Parent involvement

Follow-up information provided after program
Written information provided to parents

Origin of program

Australia

Healthy Minds Education & Training

Program authors

Dr Tom Nehmy

: 2/21 King William Rd,Unley SA 5061 Australia

: 0411 591 276

: tom@healthymindsprogram.com

: Visit website

Ratings

4/4 Evidence

3/4 Implementation

Summary of evidence factors

This is a summary of the evaluation or research study characteristics that contribute to the program’s evidence rating.

Positive impact on at least one outcome for children and/or young people?	Yes
Link between program description and theory of change	Comprehensive
Study design	Quasi-experimental
Independence	Semi

Summary of implementation factors

This is a summary of the program’s characteristics that contribute to its implementation rating.

Feedback sought from participants	Yes
Feedback sought from instructors	No
Groups program is not suitable for	Not assessed
Training provided during study	Face to face, all instructors, in person
Ongoing instructor support provided during study	Yes

Context

This is a summary of the context in which the evidence for the program was established.

Study Participants
Country of Study/s	Australia
Location of Study/s in Australia	SA
Evaluation of program in culturally and linguistically diverse populations	No
Evaluation of program in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people	No
Evaluation of program in low socioeconomic groups	Yes
Developmental based adaptations to program design and delivery	No
Evaluation of program in children and young people with disability and/or learning difference	Yes

Last updated: 19 November 2021