Aim:

This paper describes research with the first known insights into the help-seeking perspectives of young rural males disengaged from education. Using qualitative methodology, the research promotes inclusive mental health practice and respects diversity through listening to understand participant voice, highlighting their perspective on mental health literacy and help-seeking.

Background:

Young Australian males 15-to-24-years-old have a high prevalence of mental health disorders and suicide is the leading cause of burden of disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2023). However, young males are the least likely to seek professional mental health support (Rickwood et al., 2015). Further, mental ill health is a known influence on premature disengagement with education (Klassen et al., 2021). The combination of delayed mental health help-seeking and lower educational outcomes can have substantial, lifelong negative impact on social and occupational functioning (Renner et al., 2024).

Mental health literacy (MHL) is a major influence on help-seeking, where low MHL is associated with reduced help-seeking (Ratnayake & Hyde, 2019). Low MHL is of particular concern for males (Ratnayake & Hyde, 2019) and low educational achievement (Nobre, et al., 2022). However, most studies fail to understand the MHL and help-seeking needs of young males, disengaged from education.

This research aims to understand how MHL, with other variables such as stigma, influence help-seeking for young rural males disengaged from mainstream education.

Content:

Sixteen males, aged 15-to-24-years, were interviewed. All participants had disengaged from mainstream education, had experienced disadvantage, and were attending a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) in regional Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2021) was employed to analyse interview transcripts and create key themes.

These themes comprised of 1) contextual influence, with a subtheme of cultural influence; 2) a spectrum of knowledge, with a subtheme of subjective threshold; 3) battling stigma; and 4) genuine connection, with a subtheme of redefining service models.

Goals:

Participant’s narratives will help attendees to understand that help-seeking for these young males is valued, but they remain ambivalent to action. Help-seeking is hindered by current service models, how MHL is understood, and how stigma is experienced. The presentation will also offer insight into how, for these young men, genuine connection that honours their context is more important than demonstrating clinical expertise. Findings from this research offers practical suggestions for tailoring mental health services to be inclusive and to meet the diverse needs of young rural males disengaged from education.

All young people deserve a good education. However, many disengage from conventional school-based learning due to different learning style, non-inclusive school environments, unsupportive or unsafe home environments and – for transgender and gender diverse young people – unwelcoming classrooms and queerphobia.
In SA, young people disengaging from school may receive alternative Tailored Learning Provision from NGOs such as the Relationships Australia SA SCILS program (Schools, Community, Innovations, Learning Support). SCILS recognises and responds to the additional complexities and needs of school-disengaged young people through case management, advocacy, life skills education and adjunct therapy services.
A key component of SCILS is screening for safety and wellbeing risks to participants with Family DOORS for Young People (DOORS-YP; Lee & McIntosh, 2019). DOORS-YP is based on the Family DOORS framework (McIntosh & Ralfs, 2012), an evidence-based framework for promoting safety and wellbeing (Wells, et al., 2019). At an individual level, DOORS-YP invites young people to complete a structured series of purposeful risk questions in DOORS-YP then to elaborate the risk with their case managers who will then respond appropriately as needed. But at a program level, what are overall levels for safety and wellbeing risks for the whole cohort; and are these different for gender diverse young people?
We compiled all previously completed DOORS-YP risk screens in SCILS in 2024, totally 492 young people. We analysed risk levels for safety and wellbeing and – as a proxy for gender diversity – then compared self-identified genders of male; female; and all other genders (including transgender, non-binary and gender not provided).
DOORS-YP revealed concerning levels of risks to and from the YP across genders – notably mental health and domestic violence. However, gender diverse young people had greatly increased self-report of suicidality; mental health concerns and fear due to an intimate partner (ie domestic violence victimisation) compared to those identifying as male or female. Notably, diverse young people reported lower levels of some risky such as drug and alcohol use and unsafe behaviour towards intimate partners (ie domestic violence perpetration) compared to those identifying as male.
In summary, young people disengaged from school need regular risk screening to check current safety and wellbeing risks with tools like DOORS-YP. In particular, gender diverse young people need screening and appropriate response to support their wellbeing and immediate risk to safety. We conclude that SCILS is well positioned to respond to safety and wellbeing risks in program participants.

According to the Australian 2022 Job and Skills Summit “Australian women are among the most educated, yet women’s economic participation is still not where it should be”. Despite advances over numerous decades in policies and legislation, the issue of workforce participation for women with children in their early years, in particular professional women, remains an ongoing issue. In fact, mothers with children under school age, still experience the greatest gender disparity in workforce participation in Australia, and therefore the ongoing adverse impacts on their career and financial security.
In acknowledging the complexity of workforce participation for mothers with children in their early years, and the significant demands of motherhood in children's early years; this research project adopted a socio-ecological perspective for holistically understanding the circumstances and experiences of working motherhood in the early years of parenting.

This research project explored the “real” experiences of professional working mothers with young children from a socio-ecological perspective, using Voydanoff’s theory of work, family, and community socio-ecological model. The conservation of resources (COR) theory was applied within this work, family, and community socio-ecological model, to understand on a theoretical and practical level what resources working mothers have access to (resource gain) or could not access or utilise (resource loss) across these domains.

This research project also acknowledged the heavily researched “conflict” between work and family for working parents, and instead argued that further research is required to understand and identify the positive outcomes of mother’s participation in the workforce as a means of promoting workforce participation. As such, a primary outcome measure of this research project was the work-family enrichment theory.

Using a mixed methods approach, this research project analysed qualitative focus group data from 42 professional working mothers with children in their early years, to subsequently design a quantitative survey measure to investigate the relationship between thematically identified “resources” and their impacts on various work, family, and community outcomes.

The findings of this research project aim to provide a conceptual framework for workforce systems and practitioners, policymakers, and change-makers to better understand what and how “resources” enable working mothers with children in their early years to positively participate in the workforce.