Orygen

What do you want and need from a future mental health system? Orygen is proud to be collaborating with Mental Health Victoria and Black Dog Institute to host a in-person community conversation about exactly that. Three weeks out from the Victorian state election, this is an opportunity to directly share your knowledge and ideas with leaders and advocates including Prof. Patrick McGorry, Phillipa Thomas, Tom Boyd, Professor Sam Harvey and Tamara Wraith. Registrations are free but essential: https://bit.ly/4sfq4sz

Orygen is excited to be inviting applications for the Centre Manager role at our soon-to-be new headspace centre, located in Moonee Valley and due to open in 2027. This leadership role will be pivotal to the centre's establishment and development, overseeing workforce recruitment, stakeholder engagement and the implementation of key clinical and operational processes to ensure the centre is ready to deliver exceptional support to young people from day one. For more information and to apply (by 29 October, 9am AEDT), visit: https://bit.ly/4jnTKBv

Young carers are disproportionately impacted by mental ill-health, and the profound challenges many face remain largely invisible, a new report from Orygen has found. The report's findings – and its call for greater visibility – is especially timely, with this week's National Carers Week spotlighting the need to extend meaningful support to those with caring responsibilities. Developed by the Orygen Policy Centre in collaboration with the Orygen Youth Advisory Council, the report offers policy solutions aimed at supporting the almost 400,000 young carers in Australia, including improved awareness, access to carer-informed mental health support, and including young carers as a priority group under the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. More on the report and these recommendations: https://bit.ly/4yLgeRF

Lived experience is expertise, and this World Mental Health Day, we're pausing to recognise the collective wisdom that it represents – here at Orygen, and across youth mental health more broadly. This year's global theme, 'Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change' spotlights the need for lived experience to be central to the design and delivery of mental health research, services, systems, and reform. Orygen is proud of our commitment to meaningful change in youth mental health, and to fostering the transparency, accountability and action needed to realise this. Here, some of our lived experience leaders – Erika Kusli, Shona Louis, Teresa Scicluna and Rafi Armanto – reflect on what this work means to them. For more about lived experience at Orygen and the path ahead, find our 2026-28 Strategy here: https://bit.ly/4rTL7Rv

Heading into the weekend inspired and energised by this week's Graduate Research Conference, a showcase of emerging research excellence here at Orygen. Always a highlight on our annual calendar, the conference celebrated the impactful work of these early career researchers, who are helping drive the advances needed in youth mental health. The day featured a keynote by A/Prof. Kate Filia, Orygen's Co-Head of Social and Functional Recovery Research, and a workshop on youth and lived experience participation with Rafi Armanto, Head of Lived Experience, and Sophia Tipping, Youth Participation Manager. Congratulations to all the presenters, including Best Presentation and Best Abstract winners Jo van Twest Farmer and Jente Meijer, and the dedicated Graduate Research team, including Prof. Kelly Allott and Kiira Sarasjärvi, for championing the next generation of research leaders. Rosalind Ge Annkathrin Böke Anoja Thanabalasingam Amanda Sabo Mariam Omar

When a young person is self-harming, coping and knowing how to respond can be difficult for parents, families and carers. Co-designed by Orygen's Suicide Prevention Research Unit alongside parents, carers and young people with lived experience, 'Coping with self-harm' provides evidence-based information and practical guidance to help families understand: • the nature and causes of self-harm • what help is available • how to support a young person who is self-harming. We're proud to share that this free resource is now available in five additional languages: Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean and Vietnamese. Access it here: https://bit.ly/4y3J7rg

Understanding the influence and impact of trauma helps ensure mental health care is accessible and responsive to young people's needs. Orygen's Trauma-Informed Care training aims to support those who work with young people in delivering this kind of care. Our next one-day, online Trauma-Informed Care training is coming up on Thursday, 15 October. Register to upskill your practice with practical strategies and tools, guided by our team of experienced clinical educators: https://lnkd.in/ghN5XeAP

It was brilliant to join friends and supporters at Princes Park this morning, raising funds for a great cause at Stepping Out for Youth Mental Health. Thank you to everyone who walked, ran or cycled to support art therapy at Orygen's headspace centres in north-west Melbourne. Together we raised more than $55k towards these programs, which play an important role in supporting young people's creativity, social connection and emotional expression. And thanks especially to the James Marcon Youth Health Committee, who are the driving forces behind this annual event 🧡 If you couldn't make it today but would still like to contribute, donations are open here: https://bit.ly/4cLMQSv

We're proud to congratulate Prof. Mario Alvarez-Jimenez on being awarded a prestigious Marles Medal from the University of Melbourne, recognising his pioneering work and development of Orygen’s world-leading digital youth mental health service, MOST. The Marles Medal for Research Impact in Health and Medical Sciences was awarded to Prof. Alvarez-Jimenez, Chief of Orygen Digital, for his outstanding contribution to transforming youth mental healthcare in Australia and informing major health reforms. Through the development and national implementation of MOST, his work now supports more than 10,000 young people annually and has facilitated referrals for more than 40,000 young Australians across more than 500 mental health services nationwide and is expanding internationally. "I share this honour with an incredibly dedicated team. MOST has benefited from the work of so many talented people, who are all passionate about making a genuine difference to young people's mental health," Professor Alvarez-Jimenez said. "We're so proud of MOST's success, and we're excited to continue the service's innovation so that we can reach more young people with the kind of support they need most, support that is evidence-based, accessible, integrated with services and potentially life-changing." "Mario's pioneering leadership in digital mental health is transforming the way mental healthcare is delivered to young people across Australia, and influencing models of care internationally," Prof. Patrick McGorry said. "Orygen is very fortunate and proud to have such a world-class translational researcher at the forefront of a genuine revolution in digital mental health." Congratulations, Mario 👏 More details: https://bit.ly/4Ay4ALj

Join us at Princes Park this Sunday, 4 October, to step out for youth mental health. Invite your family and friends, enjoy barista-made coffee, raffles and gift bags – all while helping fund essential art therapy programs for young people at Orygen's headspace centres in north-west Melbourne. For more details and to register, visit: https://bit.ly/4cLMQSv