Conducted by Emerging Minds in 2024, the Scoping Child Mental Health Workforce Project (Workforce Scoping Project) explored the mental health needs of Australia’s children aged 0–12 years, as well as those of the workforce, to ensure comprehensive support across the mental health continuum. This page provides a summary of our key findings and recommendations, along with access to the full report and data snapshots for each state and territory.
Highlights
- The estimated national prevalence rate for mental health conditions among children aged 0–12 years is 13%, with regional areas reporting higher prevalence than metropolitan or remote areas. The 2021 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) found that 11.4% of Australian children starting primary school are developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains, and 22% on at least one (AEDC, 2022).1
- Findings from the Workforce Scoping Project indicate the child mental health workforce is not spread evenly across Australia, with low availability in areas that need it most. There are about generalist mental health or other generalist professionals report regularly connecting with children and families. These generalist practitioners are more evenly distributed across the regions.
- Professionals who took part in Emerging Minds’ national research reported low levels of confidence with infant mental health and child-focused practice. They feel more confident using family resilience approaches, but less so when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and with children in the context of disasters.
- Emerging Minds looked at research and frameworks from around the world and contextualised them for Australia. We describe a set of core child mental health skills and ‘meta-competencies’ that help workers do their jobs well.
- Stakeholders described a fragmented, siloed system within health and across other sectors, leading to service gaps, overlaps and accessibility difficulties for families. They identified a need for strong leadership and ongoing support to make improvements that work for local communities and connect services across different sectors.
Based on the findings of this project, Emerging Minds makes the following four recommendations:
- Improve how we recruit and keep workers who support child mental health in rural and remote areas.
- Increase support for children’s mental health in GP clinics and primary health care, so children get help early from different types of professionals.
- Train more generalist workers for early intervention roles, using a clear framework for skills and responsibilities.
- Set up a national group of system designers to help create local solutions for children’s mental health, with support from a central organisation and funding opportunities.
About the project
In 2024, Emerging Minds completed the Scoping Child Mental Health Workforce Project (Workforce Scoping Project) to better understand the capability of Australian professionals to support child mental health, especially in areas with fewer resources. The purpose was to give advice to the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to inform future policy directions about systems, services and workforces that support the mental health and wellbeing of children and their families.
The Workforce Scoping Project involved data collection and analysis, literature reviews and targeted stakeholder consultation. This work focused on three main interlinked areas – population need (demand), workforce capacity (supply) and workforce competency – to answer key research questions.
| Population need |
| Distribution of children aged 0–12 across Australia |
| Prevalence of mental health difficulties among children across Australia |
| Existing service use by children for mental health support across Australia |
| Workforce capacity |
| Workforces available to provide infant and child mental health and wellbeing support |
| Distribution of these workforces across Australia |
| Current competency and skill levels of these workforces to support child mental health. |
The mental health and wellbeing of Australia’s children
What shapes children’s mental health?
Children’s mental health exists on a continuum, shaped by their development within the context of their family, community and environment.
Because development is ongoing, challenges often present as overlapping emotional, behavioural and developmental issues that shift over time. Supporting children effectively requires both a developmental lens (recognising the impact of persistent development experiences on daily life) and a transdiagnostic approach (addressing multiple, co-occurring concerns).
Prevalence of mental health conditions in children
There are approximately four million children aged 0–12 years in Australia, which equates to 16% of the population (AEDC, 2022). Our research suggests around 13% of these children (over 520,000) have a mental health condition. Mental health needs are not spread evenly, with children in regional areas more likely to experience mental health challenges than those in major cities.
Children in regional areas are more likely to receive mental health prescriptions or access community services than those in cities, reflecting higher need. However, children in remote and very remote areas often face limited access to services, despite high developmental vulnerability, which indicates many have unmet or ‘sub-threshold’ needs.
The 2021 AEDC found that over 11% of children starting school were vulnerable on two or more child development domains, and 22% were vulnerable on at least one, indicating a significant risk for future mental health conditions (AEDC, 2022).2 This risk is especially high in remote and very remote areas, with over 20% of children in some regions facing severe developmental challenges. Children who are developmentally vulnerable at the time they start school are at a higher risk of mental health concerns in later childhood (Green et al., 2019).
Risk and protective factors for child mental health
Children’s mental health is shaped by a mix of risk and protective factors from their experiences, family circumstances, and community environment. Research helps us understand what families need and what kind of workforce and services are required.
Our analysis through the Workforce Scoping Project showed that risk levels varied by region, with children in regional and disadvantaged areas facing more risk factors linked to higher rates of mental health challenges.
While children in regional areas are more likely to face risk factors, especially in places experiencing higher disadvantage, children in remote and very remote areas often show signs of developmental challenges, which suggests they may have unmet or unrecognised mental health needs.
The Australian child mental health and wellbeing workforce
The Workforce Scoping Project identified jobs across Australia that can help support infant and child mental health and wellbeing. Using a categorisation framework, we assessed the level of support the workforce may provide and mapped workforce availability, with a focus on regional and remote areas. We also assessed workforce competency using data from the 2023 Emerging Minds National Workforce Survey for Child, Parent and Family Mental Health (NWS).3
Workforce availability and distribution
Findings from the Workforce Scoping Project indicate there are about 150,000 professionals across Australia who are in a position to provide specialist-level child mental health practices, due to their qualifications and capacity to regularly connect with children, parents and/or families. For this project we call workers in these occupations ‘specialists’.
However, there are approximately two million workers across Australia who do not have child mental health as a core part of their role but are well placed to provide support because they regularly interact with children and families. These professionals work in roles where they regularly interact with children and families, such as teachers, nurses and general mental health staff. For this project we call workers in these occupations ‘generalists’.
The following tables provide further information about how specialists and generalists were categorised in this project.
Table 1: Information about specialists
| Classification | Specialist in infant and child mental health | Specialist in mental health |
|---|---|---|
| Description | A highly skilled professional with specialist qualifications in infant and child mental health.
This professional supports infants, children, parents, caregivers and/or families experiencing mental illness/es that has/have a high impact on their day-to-day lives (severe and persistent).
This professional is likely working collaboratively with additional integrated/coordinated care services. |
A highly skilled professional with tertiary qualifications that include a mental health component or focus, who may be working with infants, children, parents, caregivers and/or families.
This professional provides mental health support as core or complementary support within a health, community/social service and/or educational setting. |
| Group | Group 1: High opportunity specialist | Group 2: High or medium opportunity specialist |
| Criteria | High opportunity + specialist in infant and child mental health or specialist in mental health | High opportunity + generalist practicing or generalist trained
OR Medium opportunity + specialist in mental health |
| Example occupations | Psychiatrist
General practitioner (GP) Psychologist |
Registered nurse (mental health)
Drug and alcohol counsellor School teacher |
Table 2: Information about generalists
| Classification | Generalist trained | Generalist practicing |
|---|---|---|
| Description | A skilled professional with tertiary qualifications relevant to their profession or setting, who works with infants, children, parents, caregivers, families and/or the broader community.
Mental illness is not the primary function or focus of the professional or setting/service, but clients may be at risk of mental health difficulties due to their presenting concerns or life circumstances. |
A worker engaged with infants, children, parents, caregivers, families and/or the broader community in a health, community, social service and/or education setting.
This worker’s role encompasses mental health and wellbeing promotion in a setting where they may be able to observe early signs of mental health difficulties. |
| Group | Group 3: Medium opportunity generalist | Group 4: Low opportunity generalist |
| Criteria | Medium opportunity + generalist practicing or generalist trained | Low opportunity + generalist practicing or generalist trained |
| Example occupations | Health promotion officer
Emergency medicine specialist Policy officer |
Judge
Interpreter Social security assessor |
Our analysis shows that the workforce is unevenly spread across Australia, with fewer workers in areas that need them most, including regions of greater disadvantage and rural and remote regions. Generalist workers are more common across Australia, but the more remote the area, the fewer specialists there are. This leads to less availability and time for infants and children to get specialist support. These findings highlight the need to build capacity in generalist roles and improve access to support in underserviced areas.
Low workforce supply, high child mental health need
Areas with the highest need for child mental health support are usually in inner and outer regional areas, but some regions within major cities also have high need. These high-need areas often have fewer specialists, and sometimes even fewer generalist workers than the national average. This shows we need to strengthen the generalist workforce to help meet demand.
While the regions with the lowest workforce availability don’t always align with the highest need areas, there is a notable relationship. These regions – mostly major cities and inner to outer regional areas – often lack both specialist and generalist workers and have above-average or high need for child mental health support.
Most Australian professionals find themselves regularly supporting children’s mental health at work, even when it’s not their job.
Current workforce competency to support child mental health
Australian professionals who responded to the 2023 NWS rated themselves as moderately capable overall across child mental health competency domains. However, confidence was lower when it came to working with infants and working in child-focused practice, similar to findings from the 2020–21 NWS. Many workers felt confident using family resilience approaches, but less so when supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families or when working with children affected by disasters.
Workforce capability tends to be higher in major cities and drops off for those in more remote areas. Rural workers showed stronger skills in areas like working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and contextually driven practice, likely because they have gained experience in communities that require more adaptive approaches.
Experience matters for disaster-related skills. Practitioners who have worked with families during or after disasters scored much higher in this area. Even those in specialist roles often lacked confidence in supporting children through disasters. Targeted training on this topic is needed, especially in disaster-prone areas.
Access to local services is low across the board, especially in rural and remote areas. This highlights the importance of supporting and upskilling the existing workforce in these regions to better meet the mental health needs of children and families.
Most Australian professionals find themselves regularly supporting children’s mental health at work, even when it’s not their job. Overall, the survey results show a strong need to improve child mental health skills across a wide range of professions in Australia.
Child mental health workforce competencies
To contextualise the population and workforce data, we reviewed research, policy, and insights from practitioners and people with lived experience through desktop literature reviews and targeted stakeholder consultations. We also looked at existing frameworks to find common competencies needed to support children’s development and their social and emotional wellbeing.
Existing frameworks show gaps in recognising the social and cultural dimensions of mental health – particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and culturally diverse communities – as well as in addressing psychosocial, ecological and contemporary issues (e.g. cyber safety). Lessons from other countries highlight the importance of also focusing on successful implementation and service delivery.
In addition to core competencies, we identified ‘meta-competencies’ that support successful practice of all skills. These meta-competencies include the confidence and ability to work in partnership with families and peers; the ability to share expertise and engage in reflective supervision and mentoring; and the ability to communicate across a range of settings (e.g. telehealth, group work, etc.). Emerging Minds is continuing to develop these competencies to reflect practice in different settings, which will involve further work with stakeholders.
Use the following dropdowns to find out more about the competencies and meta-competencies that have been identified by Emerging Minds.
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- Able to talk to children and ask about their mental health and wellbeing
- Able to ask parents about their mental health and wellbeing
- Able to recognise emerging and established (transdiagnostic) indicators of risk*
- Able to recognise neurodevelopmental difference in children*
- Able to understand children’s developmental needs**
- Able to recognise the role of families in children’s wellbeing
- Able to recognise when families need support or are not travelling well
- Able to consider the impact of big events on children (e.g. trauma, moves, divorce, bereavement)
- Able to recognise when a child is at risk of harm (e.g. suicidal thoughts, self-harm, drug use)**
* Transdiagnostic indicators according to age and setting
** Indicators of adjustment difficulty according to age and setting
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- Able to consider a child’s development and mental health support needs*
- Able to consider a child’s strengths and privilege these strengths
- Able to consider a family’s support needs
- Able to consider a family’s strengths and privilege these strengths
- Able to consider the impact on parent–child relationships
- Able to consider the child’s connection to family and community
- Able to consider cultural and/or diversity needs
* Transdiagnostic lens
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- Able to form collaborative partnerships and engage with children’s families and work with families as partners
- Able to support parents to talk about children’s mental health and support needs
- Able to encourage and support parenting ‘capacity’ building and the use of positive parenting ‘strategies’*
- Able to support diverse families (e.g. families with low literacy, neurodivergent parents and children, culturally and linguistically diverse families, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families)
- Able to support children of parents with additional considerations (e.g. children of parents with mental illness, children with parents engaging in substance use, parents with intellectual disability)
- Able to support and strengthen parent–child relationships
- Able to support and strengthen sibling relationships
- Able to develop strategies with family members to support their children’s mental health and development
- Able to facilitate and support families to incorporate play and joint activities in children’s lives
- Able to develop strategies to minimise the impact of parental issues on children’s wellbeing and mental health
- Able to support parents and families in family transitions (e.g. perinatal period, adolescence, separation, loss)
- Able to work with principles derived from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for fostering social and emotional wellbeing (i.e. connection between thoughts, emotions and behaviours)
- Able to support children with developmental delays (e.g. language, self-regulation, attention)
- Able to adapt evidence-based interventions according to a child’s needs (e.g. developmental age and stage, current functioning)
- Able to support children with neurodivergence and other diversity (e.g. specific learning disorders, intellectual disability, gender identity, higher body weight)
- Able to address contemporary issues impacting on child wellbeing (e.g. sleep hygiene, cyber safety, vaping)
* Transdiagnostic indicators according to age and setting
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- Able to (formally or informally) connect with colleagues and other services to support children and families
- Able to make, identify and initiate effective referrals to other agencies when needed
- Able to form partnerships with children and families
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- Able to deliver effective support via a range of modes (e.g. telehealth, group work, guided self help, face-to-face)
- Able to participate in consumer-driven service development (e.g. lived experience consultations, placed-based community development)
Consultation feedback
We consulted key stakeholders who have deep knowledge of child mental health services across commissioning, planning, clinical care, research and lived experience. Their feedback added valuable insights to the data, helping us understand how to apply findings in real-world settings and identify strategies that could be adapted or scaled up.
Key themes from stakeholders were:
- System-level stewardship and centralised leadership: Leadership at national, state and community levels is needed to drive integrated, locally responsive system change.
- Innovation in rural areas: Rural services and professionals show strong innovation by maximising limited resources and collaborating across roles but are hindered by short-term or rigid funding.
- Flexible, sustained funding: Funding models should support workforce development beyond service delivery, including training, supervision and system improvements.
- Multidisciplinary general practice: Reassessing Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) incentives could support broader professional roles within general practice teams.
- Prioritise prevention and early intervention: Allocation of dedicated funding and clarification of stepped care roles can support proactive services beyond crisis response.
- Leverage local workforce: It is important to promote flexible, community-based care models using allied health assistants, cultural workers, navigators and access coordinators.
- Support implementation: Providing practical support can help services adapt best practices to local contexts and bridge the gap between policy and practice.
Feedback from members of Emerging Minds Family Forum (a group of child and family partners with lived experience) highlighted the need for practitioners, especially those less specialised in child mental health, to offer low-level, self-directed supports and resources. The forum also called for a more integrated, community-based approach, with professionals providing practical, flexible and empathetic care to children and their families.
Recommendations
A collective, connected response is needed to improve child mental health and wellbeing support. This means making changes at the system level, backed by ongoing implementation support. This is reflected in the Workforce Scoping Project’s final report recommendations.
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Expand and improve the coordination of rural and remote workforce recruitment and retention programs that are inclusive of a workforce to support child mental health, wellbeing and development.
1.1 Targeted rural and remote recruitment and retention financial incentives
1.2 Alternative models of service delivery to rural and remote communities
1.3 Recruit to Train rural scholarships
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Expanding child mental health and wellbeing support in primary health/GP settings to facilitate enhanced early and multidisciplinary treatment in the primary care system.
2.1 Whole-of-practice child mental health learning program
2.2 GP practice incentives
2.3 MBS items supporting multidisciplinary care teams
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Grow the capacity of the generalist workforce by establishing new mental health and wellbeing early intervention roles within a tiered competency framework, informed by a task-shifting methodology.
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Establish a national network of system designers to lead creation of multisector, place-based approaches to support children’s mental health and wellbeing across the service spectrum, supported by an intermediary organisation and access to grant opportunities.
Emerging Minds is working with government and sector stakeholders to refine these recommendations, making sure they continue to match new policy directions and sector priorities.
Additional resources
The following links provide more information about the Workforce Scoping Project and the 2023 NWS findings.
If you would like to meet with Emerging Minds to discuss our findings or how we can support your organisation, sector or region to enhance a focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing, please contact us at [email protected].
References
Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). (2022). Australian Early Development Census national report 2021. Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government.
Green, M. J., Tzoumakis, S., Laurens, K. R., Dean, K., Kariuki, M., Harris, F., Brinkman, S. A., & Carr, V. J. (2019). Early developmental risk for subsequent childhood mental disorders in an Australian population cohort. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 53(4), 304–315. DOI: 10.1177/0004867418814943.