Two The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers and two significant The Kids-led initiatives aimed at improving the mental health of young people – the equine assisted learning (EAL) program Yawardani Jan-ga and the parenting app Beacon – have been named as finalists in the 2021 Western Australian Mental Health Awards.
Finalists across nine awards categories were revealed today by Mental Health Minister Stephen Dawson, with winners to be announced at a special awards ceremony on 25 November.
Ellison Professor of Aboriginal Research at The Kids Kimberley, Juli Coffin, is a finalist for the Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution, which recognises someone who has displayed best practice at every level and a true dedication to service throughout 2020.
Professor Coffin is an outstandingly creative health and education researcher who has spent more than 30 years tackling some of Australia’s most complex, entrenched challenges – in particular Aboriginal suicide and mental health. She is respected nationally and internationally for her innovative, award-winning work, including her ground-breaking, Kimberley-based EAL program, Yawardani Jan-ga.
Separately, Yawardani Jan-ga – adapted to provide trauma-informed, culturally secure, strengths-based support to Aboriginal children and young people – was named as a finalist in the Youth Focus Innovation for Change category, recognising outstanding innovation driving change for better mental health.
Yawardani Jan-ga (meaning ‘horses helping’ in Yawuru language) harnesses the healing power of horses through innovative experiential learning to help heal trauma, enhance social and emotional wellbeing, nurture leadership, and promote positive relationships for Aboriginal children and young people. Run 100 per cent by and for Aboriginal people, the program was conceived as a way to address shocking rates of suicide among Aboriginal young people in Western Australia.
Also a finalist in the Innovation for Change category is the cyber safety educational app, Beacon, developed by The Kids Research Institute Australia in partnership with Bankwest. Designed to help keep kids safe online, the app is a personalised, one-stop-shop where parents and carers can find trusted, tailored, reliable information about the online world – arming them with the knowledge they need to confidently help navigate their children’s digital behaviour and reduce harms associated with being online.
Manager of the Friendly Schools program at The Kids Research Institute Australia, and researcher, community leader and advocate Erin Erceg, is a finalist in the Lifeline WA Prevention or Promotion Award.
Ms Erceg has been creative leader, lead author, co-researcher and trainer for the social and emotional wellbeing and bullying-prevention initiative since its inception in 2000. Friendly Schools supports a whole-school approach to establish policies, practices and resources necessary for effective social-emotional learning that promotes healthy social relationships, improves mental health and wellbeing, and reduces bullying in primary and secondary schools.
The WA Mental Health Awards are hosted annually by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health, in partnership with the Mental Health Commission, to showcase the tireless dedication and contribution of individuals and teams in the mental health sector, schools, workplaces and the community to help keep West Australians mentally healthy.
For more information on Awards and this year’s finalists, see Minister Dawson’s media release here.