Our research

In 2022, we completed the Co-designing an alternative to the emergency department for youth at risk of suicide in the Peel region: The Youth Safe Haven Cafe Project report.

Previous research by The Kids Research Institute Australia shows that young people and service providers desperately want an alternative to the ED but that none currently exist for young people in WA.

This project aimed to design a Safe Haven Café for young people using a ‘co-design’ method.

Participants all agreed that a Youth Safe Haven Café would be a beneficial and needed service that would provide a safer alternative to the ED, and hopefully help young people to feel calm, listened to, and hopeful about their future.

In early-mid 2022, the Walkern Katatdjin (Rainbow Knowledge) team conducted a national survey with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ young people aged 14-25 years old.

They were asked about their mental health, social and emotional wellbeing and experiences accessing care.

The survey was designed by Aboriginal, LGBTQA+ and Aboriginal LGBTQA+ people and was built around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ideas of what makes our community members healthy, happy and well.

This is the first national dataset for the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ young people.

The project team won funding from Embrace at The Kids to conduct forums with Elders and produce the community report, and the Embrace team also provided communications, design and event management support.

In April 2021, we completed Mind the Distance: Findings from a state-wide survey of young people, parents, and professionals regarding non-face-to-face mental health service delivery during and beyond COVID-19.

The project aimed to better understand the experience of using non-face-to-face mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspectives of young people, parents, carers and mental health professionals in WA.

We found that the majority of young people who experienced mental health difficulties reported that these got worse during social distancing restrictions.

Overall, the findings of the project indicate that mental health services should continue to offer face-to-face services to their clients, including 'blended' options to suit the needs of the young person (and parents/carers, if applicable).

In a report published in September 2023, researchers from Embrace at The Kids revealed that TikTok is used by LGBTQIA+ people to foster a sense of community and explore self-identity.

The research team used engagement statistics, demographics and content analysis to describe the top 250 most-viewed videos under LGBT Mental Health-related hashtags.

The analysis indicated that TikTok was used as a way for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to connect with each other and enhance feelings of connectedness.

Minority stressors including social marginalisation, homophobia and transphobia, could be reduced by the building of an online community, the study found.

We partnered with Ruah Community Services and Samaritans WA to co-design a short-term residential service for young people experiencing suicidal thoughts or distress. This work was funded by the Mental Health Commission.

This service is called a 'Youth Sanctuary' and is based on the Maytree Respite Model developed in the United Kingdom.

In 2023, we won a $508,000 grant from Lotterywest to make the Youth Sanctuary a reality in Subiaco. The space was refurbished and opened in late 2023 for an 18-month trial. After this, we hope the Youth Sanctuary will be a permanent source of support for young people in WA.

Read Embrace Co-Director Professor Helen Milroy AM's seminal 2014 work, Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice below.

Professor Milroy was joined by Professor Pat Dudgeon AM and Professor Roz Walker in editing this hugely influential book, which recently celebrated 10 years of ongoing impact. 

Read the full text here.

In 2021, we began the Mindful Self-Compassion Study, which modified an existing group self-compassion program for young people in Australia who are LGBTQA+, and explored whether participating in this program would have a positive impact on the mental health of these young people.

The study found that the program did help LGBTQA+ young people to be more self-compassionate, feel less stressed, be less self-critical, feel less inadequate and regulate emotions better than LGBTQA+ young people who had not completed the group program.

Read our factsheet here.