Mental health research with heart

Image: UNE's Dr Marg Rogers, inset left, and Dr Sarah Wayland, inset right, are leading new projects for the Regional Mental Health Research and Training Institute. Image: Emma Simpson/Unsplash

Two University of New England (UNE) researchers are about to embark on novel projects to boost the wellbeing of people in rural, regional and remote Australia as part of the new Regional Australia Mental Health Research and Training Institute (RAMHeaRT) led by UNE.

Dr Margaret Rogers and Dr Sarah Wayland have been selected to conduct research and training for the virtual institute, which brings together leading mental health researchers from seven universities in the Regional Universities Network (RUN), including UNE, Charles Sturt University, Central Queensland University, Federation University, Southern Cross University, the University of Southern Queensland and University of Sunshine Coast.

Under RAMHeaRT, these experts will collaborate with industry and community partners (including Everymind and Lifeline Direct) to tailor solutions to the needs of regional Australians, who experience significantly poorer mental health than their metropolitan counterparts.

RAMHeaRT director Professor Myfanwy Maple says the multidisciplinary approach promises to address challenging social, economic, geographic and environmental impediments to regional people accessing the health care they deserve.

“This is a unique opportunity to collaborate across the RUN universities, with our partners and rural communities to find real-world, evidence-based solutions to support mental health and wellbeing,” Professor Maple says. “The researchers identified at each university bring a wide variety of skills and interests to develop innovative solutions across the lifespan, from before birth through to seniors, and are focused on contemporary issues facing those most vulnerable in regional Australia.”

For Dr Rogers, a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at UNE, RAMHeaRT is a chance to continue creating resources and supports for the families of military veterans, and families facing change, including those transitioning to new energies and industries and dealing with the impacts of climate disasters.

“It’s a new era and children are facing stressors that we didn’t face as children,” Dr Rogers says. “Eco-anxiety is a growing field and I would like to help regional children to share their experiences and better understand their feelings so they can build resilience. This involves training early childhood educators and parents to foster conversations with confidence.”

She is looking forward to being mentored by more experienced researchers like Dr Wayland, who has devoted much of her career to exploring the lived experience of suicide and having a family member or friend go missing. As well as furthering these studies, Dr Wayland will help to train community stakeholders in how to include more regional voices in their health research.

“In the past, we have taken what we have learned in metropolitan areas and simply applied it to the regions,” she says. “We spend a lot of time focusing on the bigger, national picture, but the smaller regional picture provides a lot more context to public and community health issues.

“By developing a research toolkit for RAMHeaRT, which demonstrates how to collect data and stories, I hope to give regional people a greater voice. I hope to extend our understanding of suicide prevention needs in regional Australia and why it has an overrepresentation of people who go missing. I am also hoping to further strengthen our mental health workforce by understanding the unique issues they face.”

RAMHeaRT  is funded by a $3.66 million Commonwealth grant under the new Regional Research Collaboration program. As well as establishing a First Nations Academy, the three-year initiative will support at least 65 researchers to co-design mental health research with direct applications for priority populations.

“COVID and recent climate disasters have exacerbated the existing shortage of mental health supports in rural and regional Australia,” Dr Rogers says. “RAMHeaRT partnerships will enable us to develop and trial approaches within and for those regional communities.”