Young people the key to mental health

Monday, 28 June 1999

A $2 million mental health project involving researchers from the University of Adelaide is revolutionising the way mental health is dealt with in Australia.

The AusEinet project (Australian Early Intervention Network for Mental Health in Young People ­ pronounced Oz-ee-net) aims to prevent mental illness in young people by identifying and treating those "at risk" at the earliest stages possible.

Professor Robert Kosky (Department of Psychiatry) says childhood and adolescence are the most crucial points in dealing with mental health.

"Early intervention is the key to effective management of mental health. You can do a lot in those early stages to set young people on the right path. Once young people get onto a path of alcohol abuse, or crime, or psychosis, then it's very difficult to stop it. But if you can intervene at the right point when the earliest signs are showing, and if you can intervene effectively, then you've still got lots of potential to work with young people," he says.

Funded by the Federal Government's National Mental Health Strategy, the project is resulting in new guidelines and a new focus for mental health services on early intervention, awareness and prevention.

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