Raising Healthy Minds is an evidence-based parenting app that is available to people across Australia.
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Raising Healthy Minds

A trusted tool has been supporting children’s mental health by guiding parents and carers across Australia. Now it can help families worldwide.

Parents play a critical role in supporting children’s mental health, but it is not always easy to know what is typical, when to be concerned or what to do next. Advice online can be fragmented, overwhelming or difficult to trust, while professional support is often sought only after difficulties have become more serious.

Raising Healthy Minds was created to put credible, practical guidance directly into parents’ hands. Developed by Raising Children Network with funding from the Australian Government, the free app helps parents and carers understand and support the social and emotional wellbeing of children. The app was co-designed with parents and mental health experts in partnership with Raising Children Network’s member organisations, the Parenting Research Centre and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Rather than offering every family the same stream of generic information, Raising Healthy Minds is tailored to the needs of each family. Parents can search by topic or keyword and receive age-based practical, timely guidance on subjects including emotions, behaviour, relationships, anxiety, self-esteem and neurodivergence.

“With Raising Healthy Minds our goal has always been to put trusted, evidence-based guidance in the hands of parents so it can be accessed right when questions arise.”

- Derek McCormack, Director of the Raising Children Network

Raising Healthy Minds is designed to support the wider network around a child. Health professionals can use it to strengthen parents’ knowledge, confidence and capacity, while educators can draw on its accessible information to support conversations with children and families.

The app is already available across Australia, but the need it addresses is universal. Evidence-based parenting support can strengthen parenting practices and help reduce emotional and behavioural difficulties in children.

Built for Australian families, Raising Healthy Minds has the potential to be localised for families around the world.

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CREATORS

Raising Children Network
Raising Children Network provides free, evidence-based parenting information to parents, carers and professionals. Its content is reviewed through a quality-assurance process developed with its Scientific Advisory Board, which includes experts in child health and development.

Raising Healthy Minds was released in 2021 as a personalised guide to children’s social and emotional wellbeing. It was developed to strengthen the knowledge and confidence of parents, carers and professionals supporting families.

Parenting Research Centre
The Parenting Research Centre works with governments, services and communities to improve parenting support and outcomes for children. Its work includes developing and delivering evidence-informed parenting programmes, digital resources and systems-level initiatives.

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is one of Australia’s leading child-health research organisations. Working alongside The Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne, it translates research into practical improvements in children’s health and wellbeing.

References

  • Raising Healthy Minds is a free app for parents and carers supporting children’s social and emotional wellbeing, and it can be tailored to the child, family and users’ interests. It was co-designed with parents and mental health experts and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Its audiences include parents and carers, health professionals and educators, and its content covers areas such as anxiety, self-esteem and neurodivergence. [Source]

  • The app launched in 2021 and was developed to improve parents’ and professionals’ knowledge and confidence around children’s social and emotional wellbeing. [Source]

  • A recent meta-review covering 22 systematic reviews, 204 trials and nearly 40,000 participants also found evidence that parenting interventions can improve a range of child mental-health outcomes, although the strength of evidence varied by intervention and outcome. [Source]

  • WHO recommends evidence-based parenting interventions, citing benefits including stronger positive parenting, reduced parental stress and mental-health problems, and fewer behavioural and mental-health problems among children. [Source]