The 2023 National Workforce Survey for Child, Parent and Family Mental Health (NWS) found low to moderate levels of child mental health competency in the Australian workforce. Higher levels of competency overall were found among practitioners who engaged with Emerging Minds.
The NWS findings indicate an opportunity to improve knowledge, confidence and a broad range of child mental health practices across all Australian workforces. Supporting infant mental health, working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and responding to children’s needs in disasters showed particularly low competency levels across all kinds of workforces.
With most practitioners indicating they provide some kind of child mental health support – whether or not it’s a prescribed part of their role – there is a clear need to support the development and competence of all practitioners to draw upon their child mental health skills. Feedback from survey respondents told us that practitioners who engage in learning improve their capacity to support child mental health in their practice.
This page includes information about six of our key findings from the 2023 NWS:
| 1. Most workers provide child mental health support even when it is not their job. | 2. Workforce competence is moderate to low across different domains of child mental health. |
| 3. Competence in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families is very low across most of the workforce. | 4. Workers without previous disaster experience lack confidence in supporting families impacted by disasters. |
| 5. Geographical location has an impact on workforce competence. | 6. Emerging Minds users had higher competence and improved practice in child mental health. |
On this page:
Key findings:
- Most workers provide child mental health support even when it is not their job
- Workforce competence is moderate to low across different domains of child mental health
- Competence in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families is very low across most of the workforce
- Workers without previous disaster experience lack confidence in supporting families impacted by disasters
- Geographical location has an impact on workforce competence
- Emerging Minds users had higher competence and improved practice in child mental health
Conclusion:
Background
The NWS is a research activity that aims to periodically take a snapshot of the competency and practices of the health, social and community services workforce across a range of aspects of infant and child mental health.
Emerging Minds first ran the NWS in 2020–21. The results of the first survey highlighted that while there was some understanding of child mental health and trauma within the workforce, there were also significant gaps in knowledge and practice.
The second NWS was open for data collection from 15 August to 15 November 2023. The survey was completed online and was promoted widely by Emerging Minds, as well as by more than 100 individuals and partner organisations who shared the survey with their networks.
We asked respondents about their demographics, work profile and engagement with Emerging Minds. They were also asked to rate their own knowledge, confidence, skills and practice in relation to different topics or practice areas.
Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with a series of statements using a scale from 1 to 7, where 1= strongly disagree and 7= strongly agree. Average scores are therefore presented as a score out of seven. We interpret these averages as the following levels of competence:
- 1–4: Lack of agreement indicating low competence.
- 5–6: Moderate competence.
- 6–7: High level of competence.
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Most of the survey questions related to generalist-level skills that were considered relevant for all practitioners. All respondents were asked to self-assess their competency in response to these questions. Some questions about specialist-level skills and practice were only answered by those who stated that child mental health was part of their job or regular work. The survey questions were grouped by statistical analysis into domains of competencies, which were categorised as either generalist or specialist competencies.
The original questionnaire from the 2020–21 NWS was updated and expanded in 2023 to include additional sections on family resilience, working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, and understanding and responding to children in disasters. The new questions were co-developed with internal and and Emerging Minds’ National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consultancy Group.
Starting in October 2025, we ran a series of three webinars to talk about the 2023 NWS data and the role of workforce competency in a comprehensive and coordinated child mental health care system.
A total of 3,064 responses were received from workers in more than 50 occupations across Australia (compared to 1,518 responses in 2020–21). The top responding occupations were:
- general social workers (277)
- program manager/administrators (214)
- mental health nurses (198)
- community and support workers (192).
Other occupations included various doctors (112), other types of nurses (289) and educators (117). When occupations were grouped by similarities in their work, the sample comprised of 32% social services professionals, 24% mental health professionals, 17% clinical health professionals, 5 % educators and 22% other occupations.
The top responding sectors were adult mental health (341), child protection and safety (314), infant, child and adolescent mental health (219) and community health services (192).
The majority of the workforce captured was female (87%), with over half working full-time (58%). The geographical distribution was roughly representative of the broader health and social assistance workforce, with the greatest number of responses from Victoria (22%), Queensland (21%) and New South Wales (20%). Over half worked in major cities (59%), a fifth worked in inner regional areas (21%) and the remaining worked in outer regional, remote and very remote areas (17%).
A significant proportion (42%) were relatively new to their occupation, having worked in roles similar to their current role for 0–5 years, although the overall average was 11 years of experience. Most of the sample had not completed the previous NWS in 2020–21.
One of the key findings of the 2023 NWS was that most workers provide child mental health support, even if it is not their job:
- Two-thirds of NWS respondents indicated that supporting child mental health was a stated or intended part of their role.
- Nearly all respondents (85%) reported finding themselves often or always supporting child mental health at work, regardless of whether it was part of their role.
- More than half of respondents (63%) for whom child mental health was not part of their job still found themselves doing this work at least sometimes, if not often or always.
These findings highlight the diverse composition of the child mental health workforce. They also reinforce the need to support all practitioners through workforce development, ensuring they have the competencies, skills and support required to care for children, parents and families.
We found that those whose role/responsibility and day-to-day functions involved child mental health had increased competency. Additionally, we found the more often a professional supported child mental health in their role, the higher their self-rated competence.
Workplaces could consider how exploring their role in supporting children’s mental health can build capacity within the child mental health workforce.
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All 2023 NWS respondents were invited to rate themselves on a range of generalist competencies developed with all practitioners in mind. The results were found to vary from one competency to another, with room for improvement demonstrated in all areas. On average Child-focused practice (mean score of 4.62 out of 7) and Infant mental health (4.51) were scored low, while moderate scores were shown for Assessment (5.22), Workplace support (5.47) and Facilitating support (5.65).
Across three new topics developed for the 2023 survey, two highlighted significant gaps in competency – Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families (4.78) and Child mental health in the context of disaster (4.58) – while the third, Family resilience, showed moderate average scores (5.48).
Engaging parents and Trauma and adversity are important competencies relevant across a range of settings. These showed moderate levels of competence (mean scores of 5.05 and 5.52 respectively).
The specialist-level competencies, which were responded to only by those already supporting child mental health at work, also showed varying levels of competence. Two of the four specialist competencies were rated low – Child mental health practice capability (4.78) and Specialist practice in disasters (4.63). The other two showed moderate competence – Advanced child mental health practice (5.61) and Contextually driven practice (5.47).
Use the following dropdowns to learn more about the 2023 NWS child mental health competencies and how they are defined.
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All respondents were invited to answer survey questions related to the following generalist competencies.
Child-focused practice Working in ways where child mental health is front of mind and is reflected in practices. Assessment Knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of developing or who are displaying signs of emerging mental health concerns. Workplace support The work environment positively influences the chances of providing child mental health-promoting and family-focused practice. Infant mental health Understanding theory, infant mental health, the parent-child relationship, and providing support in the perinatal period. Facilitating support Knowing when and how to connect children and families with mental health support outside the immediate scope of practice, including external providers. Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families Knowledge, confidence, skills and structures to adapt practice to better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in ways that are culturally safe, centres culture and promotes healing. Family resilience Practices that reflect key components of the Family Resilience Model, including engaging family members to identify and draw upon strengths and collaboration. Child mental health in the context of disasters Understanding how disasters can impact on children’s mental health and confidence to provide early intervention support to children and families affected by disaster. Engaging parents Skills focused on talking to parents about children’s mental health, helping equip parents and examining the relationships between parents and children. Trauma and adversity Understanding theory of trauma responses and the impact of adversity on child development and mental health, working in trauma informed ways with children and families. -
Survey questions about the following specialist competencies were offered to respondents who said child mental health was part of their job or that they find themselves regularly supporting child mental health.
Child mental health practice capability High level knowledge and confidence to adapt mental health practice for children across a range of ages, stages and developmental needs. Advanced child mental health practice Skills to use professional discretion to employ components of evidence-based interventions and strategies for effective responses to children’s mental health. Specialist practices in disaster Advanced practices that directly respond to mental health impacts of disasters in children. Contextually driven practice Skills and confidence to adapt practice to the environment and context in which the child’s mental health develops, including the rural families and families with various cultural backgrounds.
Other key findings related to the respondent competency ratings are:
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Practice competencies that rely on the practitioner’s self-directed strategies to improve child mental health are rated somewhat lower than other areas. This is similar to our findings in the 2020–21 NWS. Among specialist-level practices, the Child mental health practice capability subscale (which captures how equipped and confident practitioners feel to choose, adapt and deliver strategies) was rated low, while the Advanced child mental health practice competency (which involves assessing risk and using components of evidence-based interventions) was rated higher.
These findings suggests that practitioners may feel more confident implementing structured individual practice models and processes, such as Assessment and Facilitating support (referral), but less equipped to be adaptable and implement a range of strategies in their practice.
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The level of competency in Engaging parents was lower than expected and is an area that may require some additional support across the workforce. Practitioners who only have adults as clients also showed consistently lower self-rated capability across child mental health competencies than those whose clients include children. It is important for all practitioners to see their role in supporting parents and parenting as part of promoting child mental health.
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When occupations captured were grouped according to similarities in their focus, clinical health professionals (with assumed default focus on physical health) routinely rated their capabilities notably lower than mental health, social services and education professionals.
Among all the professions captured, some groups with the greatest need for capacity-building were in key professions with more opportunity to provide specialist-level child mental health support. These included GPs, primary health nurses and support workers.
Figure 3. Generalist and specialist competency scores by profession group
To read more about the results for your profession or sector, please request the full 2023 NWS report.
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Overall, the workforce rated themselves as having low competence in Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with an average score of 4.78 out of 7. It was a common area of concern for many locations and workforce groups, despite three-quarters (77%) of the workforce indicating they work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families at least sometimes, if not more often.
Most survey respondents – about 77% – are working in some capacity with children, parents or families who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
Of most concern is the very low level of familiarity with the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017–2023. However, this is an area where accessing workforce development appears to make a sizeable difference: those who used Emerging Minds resources were 16% more familiar with the framework than those who had not.
Competence in this topic is higher among people who:
- work in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce role
- more frequently work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, or
- work in a regional or remote location.
While Northern Territory respondents reported lower competence than those in other jurisdictions across many of the areas measured, they showed the highest competence in Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
Working regularly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families was also linked to higher competence in other areas of practice as well.
On-the-job training is important for improving perceived self-competence in practice, but respondents reported a significant lack of cultural supervision available to enhance practice in the workforce.
The more often respondents worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, the higher their average level of competence for providing culturally appropriate services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
Disasters are serious disruptions to the normal functioning of a community or society due to hazardous events that exceed their capacity to respond. They require emergency response and support for recovery. Disasters may result from things like floods, fires, storms, droughts, toxic chemical accidents or pollution, explosions or other causes.
Understanding the impacts of man-made and natural disasters on children’s mental health and having the skills to respond is increasingly important for practitioners, especially in disaster-prone areas. However, this is an area showing some of the greatest need for improvement. The following are some of our key findings on this topic:
- Generalist-level understanding of the impacts disasters can have on children’s mental health was rated 4.58 out of 7 on average.
- The child mental health workforce rated their specialist-level practices responding to children who have been impacted by disaster an average of 4.63.
- Average scores for all profession groups and across major cities, regional and remote areas were below 5 out of 7, indicating there is low capability across the workforce.
There was a key difference in competence between practitioners who have previously needed to address the impacts of disasters with children and families compared to those without prior experience. The group with previous experience had notably higher scores (although still at the moderate level), while those who lacked experience scored very low in both the generalist and specialist disaster competencies. This suggests that merely being in a role that provides specialist care does not necessarily prepare practitioners for supporting families through a disaster.
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To some extent, how workers rated their competence across child mental health domains was influenced by where in Australia they worked.
There were not large differences between states and territories across the mean competency scores, although Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Northern Territory (NT) and to some extent Tasmania (Tas.) demonstrated greater need for workforce development support.
When looking at more local geographies, we saw results varied by primary health network (PHN) catchment areas with some results more reliable than others based the number of responses received.
Overall and in most of the competencies we measured, respondents in major cities and inner regional areas showed higher competency than those in outer regional and remote areas. There was also often a sharp drop-off in scores for very remote areas, although the number of respondents from very remote parts of Australia was very small. Because of the small size of this group, we have grouped outer regional, remote and very remote respondents in this discussion about our findings.
There were some aspects where the regional and remote workforce showed particular strengths. Competency scores for Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and Contextually driven practice (a specialist competency domain about adapting practice to suit cultural differences and service needs of rural families) increased with distance away from major cities. This pattern suggests these skills may grow through experience of working in regional and rural communities, which requires more adaptive and culturally competent ways of working with families. Despite this promising finding, these contextual and cultural competencies are still rated low to moderate by the broader workforce and should be supported to improve as these skills will be vital for some of the highest need areas in Australia.
While competency in Facilitating support (i.e. knowing when and how to refer and collaborate with other services) was rated higher than other generalist competencies, the effectiveness of referrals is limited when availability of local services is low. Respondents reported that local service availability is considered low in all areas, but especially in rural and remote areas. This highlights a need to support those practitioners already working in rural and remote areas to increase their skills in child mental health practice. This will help equip practitioners to meet needs of families within the scope of their care, especially in areas of low service availability.
By collecting responses from across Australia, we have been able to compare child mental health competency between Emerging Minds users and those who had never heard of Emerging Minds before taking the survey.
Respondents who had actively engaged with Emerging Minds online courses or learning products were called the Exposed group; those who were just aware of EM, as well as those had only engaged with our website and email newsletter, were assigned to the Aware group; and those who indicated they were not aware of Emerging Minds and had had no engagement with resources were assigned to the Control group.
Respondents who were Aware or Exposed to Emerging Minds were statistically significantly more competent than those in the Control group across all the competency subscales we measured. Those in the Exposed group also showed higher levels of competency scores overall. Emerging Minds resources were especially impactful for generalist competencies.
Compared to respondents who were unaware of Emerging Minds, those actively engaged were on average:
- 15% higher on overall generalist competency scores
- 23% more confident knowing how to recognise the early signs of mental health concerns in infants
- 16% more confident recognising signs in children.
- 10% higher in specialist child mental health competence
- 15% more confident collaborating with parents after a disaster
- 14% more prepared to provide trauma-informed care to children.
Respondents who were Emerging Minds users continued to find the resources highly relevant, applicable and effective. Resources in a variety of formats were identified as important to EM’s offering, with 50% of all users in survey indicating they access a combination of online learning courses and other resources.
- 88% found Emerging Minds resources highly relevant to their work
- 92% learned something useful from Emerging Minds resources
- 77% improved confidence discussing child mental health with families
- 80% were able to apply learnings to their work
Participants who were Emerging Minds users (n=1,145–1,154) rated their agreement with these statements as 5, 6 or 7 out of 7.
Respondents shared examples of how they had applied learnings in their practice. They discussed using components of Emerging Minds’ online learning and practice papers to manage child mental health more effectively in their work, including supporting parents and a focus on more holistic and relational practice.
Supporting children’s perspectives and voices when working with adults who are parents was one area that respondents highlighted when describing how they had applied their learnings. Many respondents indicated they had shared Emerging Minds resources across their workplace and used them to inform and train other professionals.
‘I’ve learned about the approach to take when communicating with parents, what words are helpful, where to focus, what questions are useful, understanding evidence-based research and the changes over time.’
– 2023 NWS respondent
Time, perceived opportunity and the level of content were barriers that kept some respondents from incorporating learnings from Emerging Minds resources.
Some mentioned a lack of time and prioritisation by their workplace to support professional development, suggesting the need for further organisational and systems-level change to help workplaces support their staff.
Some respondents described needing higher-level content that could support them to respond to more complex child mental health issues. Since conducting the survey , Emerging Minds has expanded its offering of specialist and practice-focused learning resources.
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This research helps us understand the needs of the workforce so that we can continue to deliver high quality and useful learning resources and organisational support to improve workforce capacity to support Australian children and their families. We will continue to share our learnings across a range of platforms to feed back to professions and sectors so they can better support practitioners, staff and communities.
Emerging Minds would like to thank everyone who completed the 2023 NWS. The research will be continuing so we can learn how practice and capabilities change over time. Keep an eye out for the next iteration of the NWS, which is due to begin in the first half of 2026.
Emerging Minds is working with leaders, organisations and policymakers around Australia to improve the capacity of systems to promote and respond to children’s mental health. We can advise on workforce development strategies, support regional planning and offer learning and practice resources to help build capacity in your region. We would love to talk with you about improving child mental health services and support in your region.
To find out more, email us at [email protected] or subscribe to e-news for the latest updates.
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ac.care; Adelaide Hills Council; Anglicare NT; Anglicare Vic.; Anglicare WA; Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA); Australasian Society for Developmental Paediatrcis (ASDP, formerly NBPSA); Australian Association of Psychologists inc. (AAPi); Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR); Australian Institute for Family Studies (AIFS); Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Vic. (ANMF Vic.); Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY); Australian Social Workers Association (AASW); Brisbane North PHN; Butterfly Foundation; Child and Family Services, Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services Qld; Child Family Alliance; Commissioner for Children and Young People Tas.; Cumberland City Council; Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN; Department for Child Protection SA; Department of Health NT; Embrace Multicultural Mental Health; Families Australia; Family Law Pathways WA; Family Relationship Services Australia (FRSA); Flinders University, School of Social Work; Gathering Thoughts; General Practice Supervision Australia; Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Ltd (GAPDL) – Communities for Children; Gowrie SA; Happy Life Healing; Healthy Development Adelaide; Healthy North Coast/North Coast NSW PHN; Inclusive Teaching and Learning Directorate, Support and Inclusion Division, Department for Education SA; Kingston Neighbourhood House; Larrakia Nation; Light Regional Council; Lived Experience Australia; Mental Health Australia; Mental Health Carers NSW; Mental Health Commission WA; Mental Health Coordinating Council; Mental Health First Aid International; Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN); Mercy Community, Local Level Alliance Facilitator for North Qld; MercyCare; Monash University, School of Rural and Remote Health; National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN); National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse; National Rural Health Alliance; Neurodiversity & Well-being Consultancy; Newcastle Family Support Services; Northern Qld PHN; NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS); NSW Mental Health Commission; NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association; NT Mental Health Coalition; Occupational Therapy Australia; Office of the Chief Psychiatrist, Department of Education WA; Perinatal Wellness Team; PHN Cooperative; Pine Rivers Private Hospital; Primary Health Tas. PHN; Psychology and Health Forum; Qld Centre for Perinatal & Infant Mental Health; Qld Family and Child Commission; Red Cross WA; Relationships Australia SA; RFDS; ROMA Primary & Community Care; Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners (RACGP); Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; Rural Doctors Association of NSW; Rural Health Pro; SACOSS; Sector Connect Incorporated NSW; SES Volunteers Association WA; South West Hospital and Health Service Qld; Southern NSW Local Health District; Speech Pathology Australia; Thriving Qld Kids Partnership, ARACY; Turkindi; Vic. Alcohol & Drug Association (VAADA); Vic. Transcultural Mental Health, St Vincent Hospital; WA Association for Mental Health (WAAMH); WA Child and Adolescent Health Service; WA Council of Social Services (WACOSS); WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA); Wanslea; Went West Western Sydney PHN; Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre; Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA).