Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank has combined the best evidence, together with lived experience accounts to propose the recommendations outlined in this paper. This policy paper focuses on actionable, evidence-based steps a newly elected federal government can take to address the current youth mental health crisis.

The recommendations included in this policy paper have three overarching goals – to address the economic, social, and support access drivers of youth mental health – achieved via eight feasible and impactful recommendations:

1. Increase income support payments for those on youth allowance, JobSeeker, AusStudy, ABStudy living allowance and the Disability Support Pension back to levels achieved with the Coronavirus Supplement.
2. Introduce federally-funded grants and scholarships for young people experiencing disadvantage to access tertiary education, training and work placements.
3. Adopt a social connection and social and emotional wellbeing lens on policies.
4. Community-led infrastructure and projects to facilitate social connection, particularly targeting youth- and family-oriented projects.
5. Scale up evidence-based digital resources for youth mental health.
6. Double the number of Commonwealth Supported Places for psychology, mental health nursing and other allied mental health professions, and with a focus on improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation.
7. Increase subsidised and/or paid placements of psychology, mental health nursing, psychiatry, peer support workers and other allied health professions.
8. Increase incentives, public-sector salary loading or similar for discipline-specific supervision in mental health tertiary training programs.