A research centre that will invest up to $1 million in funding every year to improve the mental health of northern Australians and beyond has been launched at James Cook University.
Established through a $34 million bequest from Australian literary icons Colin and Margaret Roderick, the Margaret Roderick Centre for Mental Health Research will deliver up to about $1 million per year in funding to researchers, partner organisations and Higher Degree by Research students under three broad mental health research themes.
Newly appointed Centre Director and JCU neuroscientist Professor Zoltan Sarnyai said the Centre, with its focus to deliver effective mental health solutions to regional communities, is the first of its kind and had the potential to be a game-changer when it comes to understanding how to treat mental health in regional and remote areas.
"This is an unparalleled opportunity to put us on the map in terms of mental health research in Australia and internationally," he said.
"Some of the results we expect to come out of the Centre will have fundamental importance in understanding how the brain processes stressful and traumatic events, how it responds to it, and how things go wrong.
"Even outside of northern Queensland, there are a lot of other rural communities in Australia and worldwide that are underserved, especially in mental health, so whatever we do here and learn here will be applicable to them."
The Centre will fund research targeting:
* Severe mental illness diagnosis, treatment, and support.
* Mental health and wellbeing for vulnerable populations (including support for those with neurodiverse conditions) and;
* Emerging issues that require new approaches to innovating in mental health practice, such as the application of telehealth and AI.
JCU College of Healthcare Sciences Dean Professor Pauline Calleja said children and adolescents, First Nations people, and men in rural communities are particularly at risk when it comes to mental illness, self-harm and suicidal behaviour.
"Our suicide rates go up the more remote and rural we get and compared to people living in metropolitan areas, our burden of disease is much higher as well, but our access to services is much lower," she said.
"We've seen some great improvements in access to services, but not necessarily increased positive outcomes. Part of the problem is we still deal with quite a lot of stigma around mental illness within our regions, and that makes it more and more difficult to actually get those good outcomes."
Prof Calleja said that was why the Centre would embrace a multidisciplinary approach to mental health treatment, incorporating representatives from different JCU colleges, institutes, service divisions, and First Nations groups on the Centre's management committee.
"We know that if someone has a mental illness concern or developmental issue, that's not managed by one clinician. It's a whole of health service approach," she said.
"And so, we've really taken that element of asking how do we ensure people experience what they need in a health setting, and turn that into the research requirements around a lot of our grants about requiring disciplines that are more than just a single silo - they look at academics, clinicians and end users or community groups."
Prof Sarnyai said children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to stressful and traumatic events such as cyber bullying or a family breakdown.
"These negative factors can have an impact on brain development, which ultimately increases the likelihood of developing psychiatric disorders," he said.
"So, the way I would see the Centre acting in that sphere is trying to identify the kids who are particularly vulnerable by using cutting-edge psychological, biomarker and AI tools and devise and design interventions that help them to deal with the stressors and traumas, so we can avoid the development of mental health disorders later in life."
A visiting scholar program, student research scholarships, industry fellowships and competitive research grants offering between $7,000 and $200,000 per project with industry and community partners will be offered by the Centre.
Researchers and organisations interested in partnering with the Margaret Roderick Centre for Mental Health Research can contact Professor Zoltan Sarnyai on [email protected].
