Using Implementation Science to Inform Workforce and Service Development in Youth Mental Health: An Australian Case Study

Globally, mental illness and substance use disorders are the leading cause of disability and disease burden for young people. Orygen is an Australian youth mental health organisation with a mission to reduce the impact of mental ill health on young people, families and society, through research, clinical services, advocacy, and the design and delivery of youth mental health workforce and service development initiatives. Orygen is one of only a few known research and clinical centres with a dedicated knowledge translation division, which concentrates on growing the capacity of the systems, services, and professionals who support young people experiencing mental ill health. This paper provides a case study of the workforce development team within the Orygen knowledge translation, outlining how implementation science informs their work and how the division has adapted its model in the face of COVID-19. Since 2017, the team has delivered training to more than 4000 youth mental health workers across Australia, on the topics of trauma, psychosis, mood and anxiety disorders, brief interventions, cognition and other areas of youth mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic generated abrupt and dramatic changes to the delivery of workforce and service development initiatives in Australia due to significant restrictions to travel and in-person events. It also placed major delivery demands on youth mental health services. This paper outlines how the team at Orygen adapted their approach to youth mental health workforce development in response to COVID-19, offering reflections and future directions for implementation science that can support flexible models of support in a changing system.