Dear CEH Friend

The second quarter has ended on a particularly high note for the Centre for Emotional Health (CEH) and for me, personally. I’m extremely pleased to let you know that the CEH has been awarded a substantial grant by the Australian Research Council which will allow us to further our research into adolescent mental health.  The research will aim to understand factors that increase risk and provide protection from the development of emotional distress during the adolescent years. You can learn more about the grant and project here.

I’d like to thank the Rotary Club of North Ryde who tirelessly devote their time to raising awareness about youth mental health. In May and June the CEH partnered with the Club to present two seminars to the public, one on Identifying and Managing Child Anxiety and the other on Helping Teens Overcome Stress which are now available online for viewing. If you want to support the great work that Rotary do you can participate in the North Ryde Fun Run coming up on Sunday, 30 August. All proceeds raised go towards continued research and treatment creation such as online programs which will allow greater access to children and teens in need.

The CEH will participate in an open house when the Australian Hearing Hub open its doors to the public on Saturday, 22 August to showcase the services it has to offer. For those who don’t know, the CEH’s practising clinic resides in the Hub. The line-up of activities includes a talk on child anxiety, the opportunity to participate in paid research and lots of fun activities for children. Registration is now open.

We often highlight the work we do with youth but did you know that the CEH also conducts adult based research?  Dr Miri Forbes wrote an Op Ed about recent research which has found that working part-time after retirement age is beneficial for your mental health. Miri also contributed to a discussion on The Drum, ABC on sexual dysfunction in women.  You can see her comments from 16:45mins in the clip.

For all those interested in parenting information, this article Are Today’s Children More Anxious? includes commentary from Professor Jennie Hudson on the research behind this question. And, recent PhD graduate Simon Byrne and I talked to ABC News about a CEH study which found the use of medication combined with exposure therapy helped children overcome their phobias. This summary provides details about the research.  

Finally, for all the psychologists who are looking for information on the latest evidence-based treatments and want to learn skills to assist clinical decision making, we are running a new workshop on 23 October which will teach you to decipher which research is clinically relevant, which tools are available to keep you up-to-date in a timely manner and how to overcome the practical barriers in using research for clinical decision making. 

All the best for the coming months.

Kind regards
Professor Ron Rapee
Director, Centre for Emotional Health

Individual characteristics predicting poorer outcomes, identified
Professor Jennie Hudson, along with a team of researchers in a multi-site collaboration, has identified individual characteristics that predict poorer outcomes following psychological therapy for children with anxiety. These findings could see treatments tailored to ensure these children have better outcomes.

Exposure combined with medication shows good results for specific childhood phobias
This study has found that children with specific phobias have a better chance of being anxiety free after exposure therapy if they combine exposure with a medication called D-Cycloserine (DCS). 

If you or someone you know might benefit from participating in innovative treatment with a focus on research, take a look at these opportunities.