Mental health is both an important public health issue and a personally relevant issue for medical students navigating the demands and complexities of their training (Vollmer-Conna 2016, Ganes & Sunder 2024). In the Beginnings, Growth and Development B course (BGDB, Phase 1 Medicine), the 'Teenage Mental Health' learning scenario provides a context for exploring mental health, risk and protective factors, regulating emotions, and non-pharmacological approaches to dealing with life's ups and downs. Supported by funding from the Inspired Learning Initiative (2018), I lead a team to design and develop an evidence-based adaptive online tutorial on mental health and online cognitive behaviour therapy, with a storyline of a medical student. The team included Amanda Yeung (Pro-Vice Chancellor Education unit), Vicki Langendyk (UNSW Medicine), Martin Le Nedelec (School of Medical Sciences), with Hila Haskelberg and Stephanie Bradstock from the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (St Vincent’s Hospital), and Ute Vollmer-Conna (UNSW Medicine Student Wellbeing Advisor). This collaboration strengthened and extended the relationship between CRUfAD and Phase 1 Medicine, for sharing of resources and expertise, and for continued input to the lecture component of the BGDB course. The adaptive tutorial is delivered in a blended learning environment, where students individually complete the tutorial, with discussion of key questions between neighbouring students during the tutorial, and then a class discussion of the issues arising from the storyline, including the evidence for the effectiveness of online cognitive behaviour therapy (using 'This Way Up' as an example of an accredited program) and the stigma associated with mental illness. The intention is to create a safe and informed environment for the discussion of these issues, with support from CRUfAD and 'This Way Up' to facilitate the discussion.

Vollmer-Conna, U. (2016). We don’t know enough about mental health in Australian medical students. The Conversation (13 Dec). DOI https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.c9e4s7mj3.

Ganes, A., & Sunder, P. (2024). A scoping review of mental health status in Australian medical students and doctors-in-training (DiT). Health science reports, 7(6), e2214. DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.2214