Request for Proposal for a National Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing Study

The Department requires an external provider to design and conduct a nationally representative study of child and adolescent mental health to meet the following study aims:

(a) The primary aim of The Study is to:

• update national prefalence rates of mental health discorders for Australian children and adolescents, including examining changes since Young Minds Matter (YMM).

(b) The secondary aims of The Study are to:

(i) investigate subsyndromal or pre-disorder symptoms in children and adolescents

(ii) measure impairment associated with mental health symptoms and disorders

(iii) establish rates of suicidality and self-harm in children and adolescents

(iv) investigate help seeking, including service use, in children and adolescents with mental health symptoms/conditions and how this has changed since Young Minds Matter (YMM)

(v) consider educational context in relation to child and adolescent mental health

The information obtained from the study will be used by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and mental health service providers, to guide the development of mental health policy and programmes for children and adolescents, including to:

· plan appropriate mental health services for children and adolescents,

· determine the need for additional services (service gaps),

· determine whether existing services are appropriate to meet need and what alternatives might be required, and

· benchmark progress in achieving national and jurisdictional goals in promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of children and adolescents.