Breaking down the barriers

Co-producing inclusive mental healthcare with young people on the margins

The Breaking Down the Barriers project will explore how social exclusion and/or disadvantage, such as poor finances, lack of social connectedness, housing instability and marginalisation, influences young people’s help-seeking for mental health related concerns.

Working in partnership with young people using a participatory action research framework, it will use qualitative methods to understand the help-seeking experiences of socially disadvantaged young people, and strategies that mental health providers and services use to help remove barriers to access.

Findings from interviews with young people and service providers will be used to produce practical resources to facilitate improved access to mental health services for all young people.

This project is supported by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2022 Seed Funding Round.

University-based researchers

Dr Kate Filia, Centre for Youth Mental Health

Dr Signe Ravn, School of Social and Political Sciences

Dr Isabel Zbukvic, Centre for Youth Mental Health

Dr Magenta Simmons, Centre for Youth Mental Health

Dr Nicholas Hill, School of Social and Political Sciences

External collaborators

Tamara Freeburn, Mission Australia

For information about this project, please contact:

Dr Kate Filia
Centre for Youth Mental Health
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Email: kmfilia@unimelb.edu.au