Screen-based devices play a central role in adolescents’ daily lives, serving purposes such as education, entertainment, social interactions, and creativity. While public concern about the impact of screen use on adolescent mental health has grown, evidence of a direct link remains unclear. The association between screen use and mental health is complex, influenced by many factors. This webinar will report on new data about this association based on an analysis of the data provided by Australian adolescents currently enrolled in the Black Dog Institute’s Future Proofing Study. These findings will be framed within the broader context of screen use research and offer recommendations for both societal and individual changes to help adolescents benefit from online experiences while reducing potential harms.

Dr. Lyndsay Brown has worked for five years as a Research Officer on the Future Proofing Study, now the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal study of adolescent mental health in Australia. Between 2019 and 2021, thousands of Year 8 students across Australia were recruited for this six-year study and each year they complete confidential questionnaires about their mental health, identity, experiences, and well-being. The team analyses this data to identify the risk and protective factors associated with adolescent mental health and the early interventions that could help adolescents thrive. Lyndsay’s work spans school engagement, data collection, research, public presentations, and community outreach.

Hosted by Dr Kathy O'Grady.

Many of us know something about the post-colonization history of Australia and most have some understanding of the transgenerational impact that history has had on our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Nonetheless, it is often difficult to know what we need to do and how we need to be as clinicians to respect indigenous culture and behave as allies to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and clients.  Many of us have done "cultural awareness" training and even adjusted our workplaces to make indigenous people feel comfortable but what other changes do we need to make to be good allies?

In this webinar, Dr. Jan Orman, Mim Weber (WellMob) and Angela Sheridan (WellMob) will discuss how clinicians can be good allies to their First Nations patients. 

 
Check out the slides here.

With the plethora of digital CBT apps and programs available, how do you select one that’s effective, safe, and engaging for teens? In this webinar Dr. Mirjana Subotic-Kerry, Senior Research Program Manager at Black Dog Institute delves into her research on digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and its impact on teen mental health.

Mirjana shares the latest research findings and insights on navigating interventions to ensure they’re evidence-based and prioritise the safety of teens’ data and privacy, among other considerations.  She introduces the new app ClearlyMe.

You can find the slides here.

Sleep is vital to mental health, especially for adolescents who are in a critical stage of development and forming lifelong habits. However, 40% of young people face significant sleep problems which can put them at risk of developing anxiety or depression. There is extensive evidence for the benefits of Cognitive Behaviour for Insomnia (CBT-I), but an app delivering this gold standard treatment to adolescents was missing.

In this webinar, Dr Sophie Li (Postdoctoral Research Fellow and clinical psychologist at Black Dog Institute) introduces Sleep Ninja®; a free, evidence-based smartphone app shown to be effective in helping young people with sleep problems.

Hosted by Dr Sarah Barker

Eating disorders have low rates of early detection and intervention, but both are needed for the best outcomes. Research shows that a multi-disciplinary team including the patient's GP is needed to facilitate recovery.

In this webinar, Dr Karen Speilman (Primary Care GP Advisor at InsideOut Institute) and Peta Marks (National Programs Manager at InsideOut Institute) will introduce the new InsideOut GP Hub & Tools which will complement and support GPs in their role which includes early identification, intervention and management. 

Hosted by Dr Kathy O’Grady

We look at neuroaffirming strategies that ADHD adults can use to live well with ADHD. Dr Sarah Barker is a clinical psychologist who is interested in approaches to living well with ADHD to increase wellbeing. This webinar is hosted by Dr Jan Orman MBBS MPsychMed. Jan is a Sydney GP with a special interest in mental health and psychological medicine.

With Dr Jan Orman and Dr Melanie Babooram

As health practitioners, we are trained to focus on the negative. But many of the people we talk to could benefit from exploring positive emotions as well.

In addition to learning how to restructure and manage unpleasant emotions, we can also explore the ways they are generating positive emotions. Together we can explore what they are doing well, what skills and concepts they can tap into to enhance these, and – most importantly - how that positive emotion feels to them.

In this brief and practical webinar, we discuss the importance of highlighting the positive emotions in clinical conversations and explore some ways in which we can help people (and ourselves) enhance the experience of those emotions.

While there is concern that excess screentime may impact young people’s mental health, smartphone technology can also provide a gateway to providing critical support in daily life.  Join Dr Imogen Bell, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Psychologist at Orygen Digital, as she summarises the research into smartphone interventions for depression and anxiety in young people, including what apps are currently available and considerations for their use in everyday clinical practice. She will also highlight some of the promising innovations, including the artificial intelligence, research into the effectiveness of transdiagnostic apps, and the development of new transdiagnostic app, Mello.

Curious about the impact of screen time on the mental health of young people? See the initial results from our Future Proofing Study this white paper (Chapter 2 Are screens making young people sad and anxious?).

Dr Imogen Bell is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at Orygen, the Centre for Youth Mental

In conversation with Dr Kathy O’Grady

Many people experience difficulties when a family member, friend or someone under their care is diagnosed with dementia. Health professionals are increasingly being asked what community members can do to assist a person maintain their dignity and a good quality of life after a diagnosis of dementia.

In this webinar we discuss these issues with Dr Hilton Koppe, GP Educator at Dementia Training Australia and facilitator of the award-winning Australian podcast "Dementia in Practice". Hosted by Dr Jan Orman.

Here’s the link to the graph to include in the podcast notes: https://d34ery7y7ckzql.cloudfront.net/3cb2dc2e-f580-4584-973a-0f95f04b43ff/Public/Resources/Webinar%2066%20Handout.pdf?150

Measurement-based care is gaining popularity, but which questionnaire should you use and what do the data really mean? Psychometric assessment encompasses everything from neuropsychological testing to self-report questionnaires like the K10. Clinical Psychologist Dr Peter Baldwin takes us through how self-report questionnaires work, how to choose a questionnaire, and how to quickly and effectively interpret the scores. He also busts some common myths about mental health questionnaires and share insights from his research and clinical practice.

Peter is joined by Dale Skinner, who lives with bipolar II. Dale is determined to provide a better understanding of mood disorders and in this webinar will share his own experience of navigating self-report questionnaires.

Panel:

Dr Peter Baldwin, academic clinical psychologist

Dale Skinner, who lives with bipolar II

Moderated by: Dr Phoebe Holdenson-Kimura

Access resources from this podcast here: https://d34ery7y7ckzql.cloudfront.net/3cb2dc2e-f580-4584-973a-0f95f04b43ff/Public/Resources/Webinar%2065%20Resources.pdf?448