Research aimed at curbing suicide-rates among doctors is among three Flinders University projects to receive mental health research grant funding.
Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, in partnership with Flinders University, has announced the recipients of its inaugural Grant Round.
The funding of up to $25,000 per project will help get research projects and trials up and running and give researchers the time and resources they need to collect data to then apply for larger sums from national and international funding bodies.
Research projects include:
Professor Paul Ward – Assessing the structural risk and resilience factors in doctors’ mental health and suicide risk
Professor Reg Nixon– Trial of a new, accessible and flexible treatment program for people suffering post-traumatic stress disorder
Professor Sharon Lawn-Pilot study of a motivational interviewing virtual-patient software tool for health professionals
Click here to view more information about our funded research projects.
Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation launched earlier this year in a bid to address growing rates of mental illness, and is Australia’s only dedicated mental health research foundation.
Breakthrough Executive Director John Mannion said the Foundation had formed strong links with the many emerging mental health research experts across the Flinders medical precinct.
“Most of us are familiar with the statistics that right now, one in five Australians has a mental health issue, and more people between 15-44 years are dying from suicide than any other cause… I think we all agree this is unacceptable and we need to do something to change this,” John said.
“Mental illness is becoming the biggest health challenge of our lifetime and we need new research and new approaches to beat it.
“Thanks to generous support from the community, Breakthrough is today able to support these researchers in their bid to tackle mental health head on and work together with them to help create a life that’s free from mental illness.”
Flinders University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robert Saint said research is the key to improving people’s wellbeing.
“Mental health issues can arise at any time, often with little warning. Anyone can be affected. And in many ways we all are; if not personally then through association with family and friends facing challenges. The causes may not be clear, and the solutions may be even more difficult to discern. That’s where research can play a critical role in identifying the actions we can take to curb the impact of mental illness, and perhaps even more importantly, in the quest for prevention,” Professor Saint said.
Breakthrough also today awarded Yuan (Joanne) Zhou the inaugural Lauren Corena Postgraduate Research Top-Up Scholarship to support her research into the use of imagery rescripting as a treatment adjunct for eating disorders.
This scholarship is funded by the Corena family in memory of their daughter Lauren who died of suicide at the age of 26 after years battling an eating disorder.
Research will provide the answers needed to create a life free from mental illness. But we won’t find the answers without your support. You can donate to Breakthrough by clicking here.
