PAEDIATRIC MENTAL HELP FOR CHILDREN OF DEFENCE PERSONNEL, VETERANS AND FIRST RESPONDERS Psychosocial research translated into teaching resources
Filmed in Armidale, New South Wales | November 2024
Dr Marg Rogers is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, New South Wales. She is a prominent figure in early childhood education New South Wales, and is also a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Manna Institute, a mental health research organisation within the regional university network across Australia, that is building place based research capacity to improve the mental health of regional, rural and remote Australia.
Dr Rogers has taught across all areas of education: early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary. She researches marginalised voices within families and education, especially in regional, rural and remote communities.
Many Australian Defence Force (ADF) members reside in rural, regional, and remote (RRR) communities, creating significant challenges for their families regarding mental health service access. With 30% of current ADF members living in these areas, families often endure waiting lists for specialised care, which is typically located in metropolitan settings. As a result, children in these families frequently witness trauma, leading to potential mental health issues.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Dr Rogers on her research focusing on paediatric mental health, specifically developing early intervention psychosocial resources for children from veterans, defence families, and first responders.
Dr. Rogers emphasises the need for increased support and resources for these families, advocating for flexible, accessible care that moves with them, including telehealth options. Her work includes developing printed and digital storybooks based on children’s narratives to help families cope with issues like moral injury.
The impact of her work, has also garnered interest overseas, in collaborative efforts with Canadian and UK institutions who are further enhancing these resources for affected families in their own countries.
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Ready to unleash the potential of the pharmacist health workforce
Last week, Associate Professor Fei Sim the National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), the peak body representing 39,000 pharmacists across Australia’s health system, spoke to Australian Health Journal about the release of the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review. The review and final report sets out to create a clear pathway for health professionals to contribute more to our health system and practice to their full and top of scope.
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HIGHLIGHTS The power of social determinants of health, panel discussion
Clinicians and consumers know only too well that life circumstances such as poor housing, income and food insecurity can have a negative impact on health outcomes. Conversely, participation in community activities, social connection and access to nature parks and leisure facilities can help maintain health and wellbeing.
More recent phenomena in public health have also focused us on the health and social care connection. Stress factors such as the sudden loss of employment and social interaction, moving to remote work or schooling, and the impacts of sudden, localised COVID-19 ‘lockdowns’ to prevent further outbreaks were triggers of increased psychological distress.
And loneliness is being described as our latest epidemic with chronic loneliness inked to a myriad of health problems and earlier death. A recent report found one in four Australians say they feel persistently lonely, and that loneliness costs $2.7 bn a year in health costs alone.
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Helen Souris, CEO and Executive Director of Cardihab and Chair of the Digital Health Advisory Group at the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA), highlights the significant gap in cardiac rehabilitation access across Australia. Despite the proven benefits of cardiac rehabilitation in improving survival, quality of life, and reducing hospital admissions, around 80% of eligible patients do not receive this care, with access rates even lower in regional and rural communities.
