VicHealth researcher: Elise Davis

“Mental health problems can impact on the health, functioning, and quality of life of children, their families and the whole community”

Research Fellow Dr Elise Davis is developing a cutting edge, innovative research program in the field of mental health promotion, with a focus on child health inequalities.

Contact Dr Elise Davis
Email: eda@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: 03 8344 0921
Website: www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au

Mental health problems in children are prevalent and significant. Occurring in 1 in 7 Australian children overall, this figure increases to 1 in 5 amongst children living in single parent families or low socioeconomic areas. Mental health problems can impact on the health, functioning and quality of life of children, their families and the whole community.

Elise’s research is focused on population mental health promotion for young children (aged 2-5 years) living in disadvantaged areas. The project involves working closely with children, families and childcare centres to develop and test a sustainable mental health promotion program which seeks to reduce mental health inequalities.

Based at the McCaughey Centre, the VicHealth Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing at the University of Melbourne, Elise works with other researchers specialising in mental health. Prior to this, she was at the School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University.

Her project aims to develop and test a childcare centre-based mental health promotion program for children living in low socioeconomic areas. It aims to build the capacity of childcare staff alongside promoting the mental health and quality of life of children and families.

Through the support of the VicHealth Fellowship Elise feels she has been able to direct her time and energy into child mental health promotion: an area she feels extremely passionate about, and which nationally and internationally, is severely lacking leading researchers.