Dr Lauren McLellan is a clinical psychologist by training. She is Director of My Mind Check, an evidence-based digital student mental health and wellbeing screening platform for Australian schools, funded by the Federal Department of Education. She is also Co-Deputy Director of the Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre at Macquarie University. Her research aims to use technology to remove barriers to families accessing good quality assessment and treatment for youth mental health.

She focusses on applied research that works to include and serve as many Australian families as possible across a range of context (including in education). She has been involved in the development of 7 online assessment and treatment programs that have been used by Australian families, in Australian public schools, and internationally in Norway, Denmark and United States. She has been instrumental in attracting $1.8million in competitive grant funding, more than $12 million in tenders and services, published 52 peer-reviewed articles/chapters and regularly presents at national and international conferences.

Anxiety disorders are common, cause significant impairment in childhood, and increase the risk for lifelong disability. Nearly 50% of anxious children in Australia cannot access our most effective treatments. Long waitlists, high treatment costs, and the typical requirement for active parental involvement are key barriers for many families, and particularly impact children from vulnerable (underserved) populations. Cool Kids Online has demonstrated effectiveness when delivered using a parent-as-coach model with limited therapist support, and when provided in schools by psychologists. Treatment delivered via a range of school personnel offers a potentially sustainable and scalable model that overcomes barriers to access.

This project will conduct the first implementation trial evaluating Cool Kids Online delivered through Australian primary schools by a broader and more scalable workforce, trained school staff. The project aims to improve access to treatment for young Australians struggling with anxiety, especially those from underserved or vulnerable groups who experience greater barriers to accessing effective care. The project will take the existing evidence-based Cool Kids Online program and utilise implementation science and mixed methods approaches across two phases; 1) stakeholder consultation to co-design a scalable and sustainable implementation approach that addresses expressed barriers with input from nationally representative stakeholders across all education sectors, and 2) an
implementation trial to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of the school delivered Cool Kids Online program in 40 Australian primary schools.

Co-Investigators: Professor Ron Rapee, Professor Viviana Wuthrich, Dr Ella Oar, A/Professor Louise Ellis, Traci Prendergast and Professor Mike Jones.