{"id":671698,"date":"2026-11-01T11:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T11:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671698\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T11:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T11:22:13","slug":"gotcha4life-minns-government-invests-450000-to-expand-mental-health-support-for-students-but-psychologists-have-doubts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671698\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotcha4Life: Minns government invests $450,000 to expand mental health support for students, but psychologists have doubts"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 1, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Children kick a Texta-covered ball around a field. The students from Tempe Public School have written their anxieties on the ball\u2019s surface: Homework. Big kids. High school.<\/p>\n

With every bounce, those worries rub off.<\/p>\n

As schools across the country battle a rise in childhood anxiety, activities such as the scribbled-on soccer ball have become crucial parts of the school day \u2013 as important as maths or spelling.<\/p>\n

\"YearYear 5 students (L-R) Georgie, Eva, Stevie and Mina, who participated in the Mentally Fit program at Tempe Public School, write their anxiety words on a ball in Sydney.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

The average age for first anxiety diagnosis has fallen to 11 years old<\/a>, according to the National Mental Health Commission, while a 2020 survey of 700 primary school principals<\/a> found 81 per cent thought children\u2019s anxiety was a significant issue within their school.<\/p>\n

To address the escalating challenge, the NSW government announced a $450,000 investment for the Gotcha4Life Mentally Fit Schools program last week, enabling the charity to expand its reach to a further 20 schools in the state\u2019s central west and south coast.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"School<\/a><\/p>\n

At Tempe, Gotcha4Life participants invented a strategy to make their school a more \u201cmentally fit\u201d environment. As part of their student voice project, year five students Georgie, Eva, Stevie and Mina created the \u201cforget about it ball\u201d on which they wrote all their anxieties.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kick it back and forth to a friend, and you\u2019re basically just forgetting about your bad emotions,\u201d Georgie said. \u201cGradually [the writing] will come off, symbolising letting go of your worries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girls said they worried about getting enough sleep, making new friends, balancing school and hobbies, forgetting tasks, and public speaking.<\/p>\n

Stevie said the ball concept was also about being physical and socialising with a friend: \u201cYou\u2019d talk to someone in your village about how you feel, and as you talk to them, then you should feel \u2026 calmer, and let go of your worries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded by media personality Gus Worland, with Karl Stefanovic also a board member, Gotcha4Life\u2019s ethos is grounded in the preventative skill of so-called mental fitness, built around the organisation\u2019s three protective factors: emotional adaptability, help-seeking behaviour and social connectedness.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe year five students created the \u201cforget about it ball\u201d as part of the Gotcha4Life program.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

Gotcha4Life\u2019s chief executive, Belinda Elworthy, said the program upskilled teachers to recognise when students were struggling, including how they could escalate their concerns: \u201cPart of what the Gotcha4Life program does [is] build that village of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Australian Association of Psychologists\u2019 Policy Coordinator Carly Dober said that teachers shouldn\u2019t be expected to manage their students mental distress on top of their daily workload, and warned that while well-intentioned, universal mental health programs can do more harm than good, particularly for vulnerable children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere might be kids or young people who already have existing mental health conditions, and the programs don\u2019t actually fit their need at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Primary<\/a><\/p>\n

She said if a child\u2019s distress stemmed from bullying or hate speech, and the school hadn\u2019t addressed the root of the problem, mental wellbeing programs could exacerbate the situation: \u201cIt can actually increase their distress if nothing tangibly different is going to occur at school \u2026 it\u2019s just hot air, essentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mental health system remains under-resourced and unreachable for many families, Dober said, which can place added pressure on a student.<\/p>\n

\u201c[If they\u2019ve] reached out … they need psychological intervention, and they can\u2019t afford it, where does that trickle down to?\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got stressed parents, you\u2019re going to have stressed kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elworthy said Gotcha4Life\u2019s three-year program was comprehensive and tailored to each school, supporting teachers, students and parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work that we are doing is prevention, it\u2019s skill-building, it\u2019s capacity-building,\u201d Elworthy said.<\/p>\n

\"YearYear six students at Tempe Public are apprehensive about the transition to high school.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

The latest Kids Helpline impact report found NSW had the highest overall contact volume in the country \u2013 although it is also the state with the greatest population \u2013 and recorded a 41.6 per cent increase in contacts over two years, from 29,083 in 2023 to 41,170 in 2025.<\/p>\n

NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said there was more work to be done when it came to supporting the mental health of children.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"13-year-old<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt does start with early intervention and prevention, so these programs are critical,\u201d she said, \u201c[Gotcha4Life is] coming in right in the early years, and teaching those skills of how to make friends, how to manage behaviour and emotions, how to look for help if you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said enhanced Headspace centres and the new Medicare Kids Hubs were available for more complex presentations. Jackson opened the first free children\u2019s mental health centre in Sydney<\/a> earlier this month, however experts in the field criticised the hub as a \u201cpiecemeal\u201d approach which would have little impact on the escalating youth mental health crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Year six students at Tempe said they were nervous but excited about transitioning to high school \u2013 where \u201cother kids will be a lot bigger and what you learn is a lot harder\u201d \u2013 but planned to lean on their friends for support.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Close\"EmilyEmily Kowal<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"November 1, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":["post-671698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}