In this month’s practitioner newsletter, you’ll read about:

• how to share your insights through the 2026 National Workforce Survey

• what we found out about workers who provide child mental health support

• free resources and courses to help you prepare for Thriving Kids

• an upcoming webinar about noticing developmental vulnerabilities in children’s transition to school

• ways to have child-focused conversations with parents who use substances

• the latest highlights in child mental health research.

Have your say in our survey (and maybe win an iPad!)

If you work with infants, children, young people, parents or families in any capacity, we would love to hear from you in our 2026 National Workforce Survey for Child, Parent and Family Mental Health. 

This is a chance to share your insights to help identify workforce needs, inform future supports and strengthen outcomes and services for Australian children and families. Plus, you can enter the draw to win one of five iPads!

Help us build a stronger picture of how the Australian workforce understands and supports child mental health by completing the survey today. 

Most workers provide child mental health support – even when it's not their job

Over 3,000 professionals from across health, education, social and community services responded to our last National Workforce Survey in 2023. Two-thirds of these respondents indicated that supporting child mental health was a stated or intended part of their role – but they weren’t the only ones engaging in this work.

We found that:

• nearly 85% of respondents reported finding themselves often or always supporting child mental health at work

• more than half of respondents (63%) for whom child mental health was not part of their job still found themselves doing this work sometimes, if not often or always.
  

This indicates a need for training in child mental health that extends beyond just practitioners whose roles formally include this work.

Findings like these are important not only for Emerging Minds’ understanding of workforce knowledge and needs, but also to inform recommendations related to professional development, funding and policy.

Preparing for Thriving Kids

With Thriving Kids launching in October, many practitioners and services are seeking information and guidance on what it might mean for their work with children and families.

We encourage you to prepare for Thriving Kids by developing your understanding of child development and capabilities that enable strong, relationship-based practice with infants, children and families.

Our free, evidence-based courses and resources promote core principles of child-centred, family-centred and strengths-based practice that will help you prepare for and respond to Thriving Kids implementation requirements and navigate changing systems.

Explore our Preparing for Thriving Kids resource collection to find relevant fact sheets, tools, learning pathways and more.

Upcoming webinar: Transition to school: How to support children and families

Tuesday 17 November, 7:00–8:15 pm (AEDT)

Presented in partnership with the Mental Health Professionals’ Network (MHPN), this free webinar will consider how to identify developmental vulnerability and strengthen support around children during the transition to school. It will explore a collaborative approach to prevention and early intervention, including ways of working across systems and building stronger relationships.

Listen to our practitioner podcast: Child-focused practice with parents who use substances

In this episode, host Nicole Rollbusch is joined by Alicia Phillips, a family therapist in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector, to talk about how practitioners can have compassionate, child-focused conversations with parents who use substances. Alicia shares how practitioners can build trust, avoid shame and keep children’s wellbeing in mind.

Research highlights: August 2026 

The latest highlights in mental health research include:

• Youth mental health and the role of parenting interventions

• Family violence and the implications for women’s psychological wellbeing

• Understanding the relationship between unmet social needs and parental mental health in multicultural and regional/rural communities

• Mental health interventions for adolescent mothers

• Online evidence-based parenting interventions delivered in real-world settings