Mental Health
in Primary Schools
An introduction to MHiPS
Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,
Today we take this opportunity to provide an update on an exciting new initiative that began here at St Martin of Tours Primary School from the beginning of 2026. We received state government funding, for the next two years, to appoint staff as Mental Health Wellbeing Leaders as part of a framework called the Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) initiative. This funding equates to approximately 1.5 days per week, which has enabled both Jamie Atherton (existing Student Wellbeing Leader) and Kristina Reid to work as Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders (MHWLs) within our school and work in partnership every Friday.
MHiPS was piloted in 10 government schools in 2020 and expanded to a further 16 government schools in 2021. In 2022, MHiPS entered the third phase of the pilot, expanding to 100 schools, including 90 government schools and 10 Catholic schools. In 2023 the state-wide rollout commenced, expanding to 394 schools in 2023, 390 schools in 2024 and 418 in 2025. In 2026, MHiPS welcomed a further 573 schools in the final year of the statewide roll-out to every government and low-fee non-government primary school in Victoria and St Martin of Tours is part of the final roll out.
An overview of MHiPS
MHiPS was conceived as a mechanism for bringing together health and education as part of the shared goal of improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes for students.
The MHiPS framework provides all schools with knowledge and tools to assess student mental health and wellbeing needs in their unique context. It is a non-prescriptive framework for which there is no stepped out guide, unlike some more traditional wellbeing programs.
For adults wanting to take a deeper dive into the initiative, the Department of Education developed a series of short case study videos which showcase the successful implementation of MHiPS across different stages and school contexts. These examples can be viewed on the Mental Health in Primary Schools Policy and Advisory Library page: Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) | vic.gov.au (links to an external site) The page also includes a simple four minute video explaining the initiative in schools and highlights that the approach will be contextual to each unique school environment. Put simply, the initiative is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach to wellbeing for students within every school environment.
The MHiPS role
What the role is
- Develops and delivers professional learning to build staff capacity
- Reviews, plans and implements a whole school approach
- Reviews and develops clear care pathways
- Ensures the use of evidence-informed strategies to meet the wellbeing needs of students
- Embeds mental health literacy across the school community
- A dedicated role requiring protected time
What the role is not
- Not a clinical role or allied health professional role
- Not focused on staff mental health support
- Not involved on mental health assessment or working 1:1 with students
Next steps
During the initial induction and training phase of the role, Angela Lacey, Kristina Reid and Jamie Atherton took part in two days of professional development and prepared a clear pathway to meet the needs of our school community. The plan is to;
embed a shared understanding of mental health literacy (throughout our school community) and embed early identification (amongst staff), supported by evidence and researched based intervention strategies, to assist children with emerging
mental health concerns.
During this early training we recognised that St Martin of Tours comes from a position of strength when working in the student wellbeing space. We already have a clear plan in our delivery of the Social and Emotional Curriculum and tap into a multitude of resources to support the health and wellbeing of our students. What this initiative enables us to do is to create a clearer and more informed approach to supporting students that may be experiencing emerging mental health concerns.
One simple example of this work in action has been research into whole school professional development and training. In Term Three our school closure day on Monday 31st August is being run by Headspace and all staff will be completing SAFEMINDS (Schools and Families Enhancing Minds) training. It will focus specifically on early intervention training to assist staff in being able to identify early signs of mental health concerns in students and provide the appropriate support using what is simply referenced as the ‘NIP it in the Bud’ Approach - Notice, Inquire and Plan.
Within this initiative, St Martin’s has been grouped with a MHiPS Learning Community that meets every three weeks to engage in further training and share resources, and is part of a network that is working and learning together, led by a Learning Leader from the University of Melbourne.
We are also working in partnership with Be You, a program led by Beyond Blue in partnership with Early Childhood Australia and headspace. Be You provides resources, tools and professional development to help educators and schools support the mental health of children and young people. St Martin’s has an assigned Be You consultant who is helping to guide our work and provide further professional learning opportunities.
In closing, we are very excited to be involved in this work with our school community and will aim to share our work with everyone along the journey.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing emotional distress, please feel free to contact any of the services below for advice and support.
