ROdown Blog
Understanding the impact of Reach Out
So as you’ve probably gathered by now, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at Reach Out HQ to keep things ticking along. The Research & Policy Team play an important role (well we think it’s important!) in helping folks to understand the impact that Reach Out and Inspire’s other program ActNow has on those who use it and how we can strengthen the site to make it even better.
I’m Michelle, and from time to time you’ll see me blogging about Research & Policy (aka R&P) at Inspire and Reach Out. There will be lots of opportunities for you to get involved with the projects our team are working on and we’re hoping to use this blog to get your advice on what we are working on as well as let you know what we’re finding along the way. I wanted to use my first post to introduce you to who’s who in the R&P Zoo.
So first off we have Lauren our Research & Evaluation Manager who is employed in partnership with the Brain & Mind Research Institute. Her role is to set up frameworks to help us understand the impact of our programs. When she’s not working Lauren enjoys spending time at the beach, running, swimming, and reading and her newest hobby, scuba diving.
Paul is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at BMRI and Inspire researching how we can improve the mental health and wellbeing of young men. You’ll be hearing lots about his aptly named project (Rob’s Place in the coming months).
Justine is a Research & Evaluation Co-ordinator at Inspire working to implement our evaluation frameworks. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Psychology from Macquarie University, and undertook a thesis on driver risk taking behaviour in young people. Justine also loves the beach, chocolate and making art (all at once would be ideal!).
Kitty is also a Research & Evaluation Co-ordinator. Last year she completed her honours in sociology for a Bachelor of Economic and Social Sciences looking at ActNow as a case study in global citizenship. Kitty takes any opportunity to sit and talk rubbish with her friends or get out into the sunshine and open spaces.
Kaveh is a PhD student at Orygen Youth Health working on a project in partnership with Inspire. He’s a psychiatrist by training and he’s looking at the potential to develop and deliver training in mindfulness (the art of being present) online as a way of improving mental health and wellbeing.
Rebecca is an intern with the team researching the ROtreat forums. Rebecca is also a Youth Ambassador for ReachOut and a regular around these parts.
And then there’s me! I’m a Research Project Manager, which means that I look after small research projects and collaborations to help us understand how technology can be used to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people from diverse backgrounds. In my spare time I’m doing my PhD and am somewhat addicted to the TV show The West Wing.
Our team is really interested in how we can get people excited about research. So, what excites you about research?
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4 Comments
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Michelle-InspireStaff
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportThanks guys. It is great to hear you are just as excited about research as we are and as FindingHope said it is all about understanding how best to help young people.
I am preparing our second blog post as we speak about an exciting opportunity to be involved in some research around the ROtreat forums. Stay tuned!
Cassie :)
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportWhat excites me about research? Well it means that by collecting information, more information can be gathered so that there is more understanding about how to best help young people. So things can continue to improve for young people like me!
Sonja
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportResearch is great. The only thing that bugs me about research is that there's not enough money in it.
HarrietTheSpy
over 2 years ago
Reply ReportI love finding out new stuff and then putting it together to make something really helpful for people ^_^