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Lottie Harris, Research Associate; Professor Daryl Higgins, Institute of Child Protection Studies (Australian Catholic University); Kelly Jebb, CEO (PeakCare); Luke Twyford, Principal Commissioner (Queensland Family and Child Commission)
Queensland Family and Child Commission and PeakCare
To develop a multi-sector youth mental health framework for healing, applicable to children and young people across Australia who have suffered significant maltreatment.
Child maltreatment is a profound and pervasive risk factor for mental health vulnerability across Australia. Its varied impacts are both immediate and enduring, often manifesting as complex, transdiagnostic patterns of distress that defy conventional diagnostic categories. These highly individualised experiences of mental illness challenge the traditional 'medical model' of Australian mental health care, which tends to rely on single-diagnosis classifications and symptom-based interventions.
As a result, children and young people who have experienced maltreatment are frequently overlooked or misclassified within the current suite of national mental health policy frameworks and service delivery structures. These systems are often siloed across child protection, health or disability sectors; they are not designed to recognise or respond to the nuanced mental health needs of the maltreated population. The lack of integrated, trauma-informed approaches limits opportunities for early and holistic healing.
To effectively address this gap, a fundamental shift in both paradigm and practice, across all sectors, is required. Australia's current fragmented and diagnostically focused models must evolve into a coordinated, trauma-informed system of care that is tailored to the complex, multi-faceted realities of maltreated children and young people.
What would it take to create a mental health system that meets the wellbeing needs of all children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma?
This project will contribute to the growing evidence on what policy and practice change is needed to ensure that the complex mental health needs of children and young people who have experienced childhood maltreatment are effectively and proactively addressed. We are developing a national mental health framework grounded in research, practitioner expertise and the lived experiences of children, young people and their caregivers. The framework will drive a whole-of-system response to the complex, transdiagnostic nature of maltreatment-related mental distress.
To shape this work, we are inviting short- and long-term contributions from invested knowledge holders - through our governance group, advisory panels and as research participants.
The project will unfold in three-phases:
We are now seeking the perspectives of a wide range of knowledge holders on how this framework can be achieved in practice. The research is in the form of focus groups with people from a range of caring roles and who have different experiences: practitioners, leaders, young adults, and caregivers. The groups are an opportunity to talk about what good care looks like and what systems need to do, to make that possible. There will be online sessions and in-person sessions.
We are looking for Queenslanders to share their perspectives.
We’d love to hear from:
Participation involves a one-hour focus group or interview, where you’ll have the opportunity to share your ideas about how mental health support could be strengthened for children and young people in Queensland.
Contact ICPS lead researcher Dr Lottie Harris if you have any questions: [email protected]
Click here to register your interest
Help shape better mental health support in Queensland (PDF, 2.9MB)
The framework will provide essential evidence to those responsible for designing, delivering, or coordinating care, to ensure that changes are made in line with best practice. The primary users will be frontline practitioners, service leaders, policymakers, and caregivers who support children and young people affected by maltreatment. This includes professionals across mental health, child protection, disability, and other related sectors. Secondary users include researchers, advocates, and lived-experience advisors who contribute to system reform and knowledge translation.
Over time, the framework will help shift the system from reactive and fragmented to proactive, relational and healing-oriented.
Queensland Family and Child Commission
National Youth Mental Health Framework for Maltreatment Healing - PeakCare
July 2025 - July 2027
For more information contact: Lottie Harris
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Monday to Friday
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