About the Fellowship
Approaches for early years mental health provision in rural communities
One in five children living in rural Australia experience mental health conditions, many of whom will go on to develop mental health issues in adulthood. Evidence suggests that the best way to address mental health problems is through prevention and early intervention, and the earlier the better. While evidence-based childhood mental health programs are often available to children living in metropolitan areas, children living in rural areas typically miss out on getting the support that they need.
Jane’s fellowship will identify ways to enhance access to evidence-based childhood mental health supports for children and families living in rural areas. The fellowship will culminate in the development of guidelines to support implementation and scaling of childhood mental health prevention and early intervention programs across rural and regional Australia.
About Jane
Jane Kohlhoff is an academic researcher and clinician who specialises in perinatal, infant and early childhood mental health. She has interests in early intervention and prevention, attachment theory and its clinical applications, and the roles of early environment and biological factors in the intergenerational transmission of mental health outcomes.
Jane leads the research program at the early parenting organisation, Karitane, and in this role enjoys partnering with families and practitioners to support evidence based practice. She is also a co-developer of ‘Parent-Child Interaction Therapy-Toddler’ and has led several research trials demonstrating its effectiveness as an early intervention and prevention model. She also contributes as a National Board Director for the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health and as President/Chair of Healthy Attachment Australia and New Zealand.
Jane is currently Director of Research at Karitane and an Associate Professor in the UNSW Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health.