It is essential to understand how to support the mental health of youth aged 15–24 years because 75% of mental health concerns emerge before the age of 25. If unaddressed, these mental health concerns contribute to lifelong implications for employment, relationships, health and wellbeing. However, many Australian youth continue to experience disadvantage from not having their mental health and help-seeking needs met by the current mental health system. Mental health literacy (MHL) is an important component that is strongly tied to help-seeking; however, there are important contextual factors that influence MHL and the willingness to seek professional mental health support. The overarching aim of this thesis was to understand MHL and help-seeking for youth who experience disadvantage (YED) to generate evidence-based recommendations for encouraging help-seeking and addressing mental health service inequity for this population.
To address this overarching aim, this thesis comprises five research papers. For the first study a systematic review of the literature was conducted to understand MHL and helpseeking through the lens of YED, and this led to the creation of the Model to Understand, Respond and Empower (MURE). MURE integrates MHL and help-seeking in a holistic, evidence-based model that honours culture and context for YED. In the second study, to address the need for a standardised MHL assessment for Australian youth, the Universal Mental Health Literacy Scale for Adolescents was validated. The next two studies focused on gaining a more enriched and unique understanding of MHL and help-seeking, drawing from the voices of YED. The third study employed mixed methodology to integrate the perspectives of parent–adolescent dyads in rural Australia. The fourth study employed qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews with young rural males disengaged from education and who experienced intersectional forms of disadvantage. Through the voices of YED, these two studies make important recommendations to conceptualise and encourage help-seeking in rural Australia. The fifth and final study consolidates all findings from across this thesis and extends the MURE. The Model to Understand, Respond and Empower–Revised incorporates the voices of YED and embeds values of genuine connection, reflexivity and adaptability to guide the process through which understanding can be fostered. Overall, this thesis makes important recommendations for researchers, professionals, policy developers, education
and mental health service providers to guide how they plan, develop and deliver mental health services for YED.