You may hear us referring to The Matilda Centre when talking about OurFutures, and the research base and researchers involved in developing our evidence-based prevention education programs.
Then you may wonder, who are The Matilda Centre, what do they have to do with OurFutures, and what is the research evidence base behind OurFutures?
We’re here to clarify these questions and explain the dynamic relationship between OurFutures and The Matilda Centre.
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use
Founded in 2018, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use is a flagship research centre based at The University of Sydney. The Matilda Centre is dedicated to creating innovative and practical solutions to address substance use and mental health disorders – the leading global causes of burden and disease in young people today.
The centre works with multidisciplinary researchers, youth advisors, and people with lived experience to exchange expertise, integrate data, and leverage new technologies to develop and trial innovative prevention and early-intervention programs for co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.
Some of these programs include Strong & Deadly Futures, which is the first school-based alcohol and drug prevention program that is culturally inclusive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; and Cracks in the ice, which is an online toolkit providing current, evidence-based information and resources about crystal methamphetamine (‘ice’).
Where does OurFutures fit into this?
OurFutures is the Matilda Centre’s longest-standing prevention program. The OurFutures model (formerly known as Climate Schools) was developed over two decades ago by Professor Maree Teesson (Director, Matilda Centre) and Professor Nicola Newton (Director of Prevention Research). They identified the need for scalable, school-based prevention education programs underpinned by the latest scientific evidence – and so OurFutures was born. Their research colleagues at The Matilda Centre, including Dr Lauren Gardner, Dr Katrina Champion, Dr Amy-Leigh Rowe, Lyra Egan, Bridie Osman and many more, continue to drive the research behind OurFutures today.
The OurFutures Institute x Matilda Centre partnership today:
In 2022, OurFutures migrated from operating fully within The Matilda Centre to becoming its own not-for-profit organisation as OurFutures Institute. While still working closely with The Matilda Centre, this transition meant that there was a dedicated mechanism to widely distribute the programs to schools across Australia. The team of researchers at The Matilda Centre continue to develop and refine the OurFutures programs based on the best available evidence and evaluate them using rigorously designed clinical trials.
What is the research base behind OurFutures?
The comprehensive research base underpinning OurFutures spans back over two decades and involves focus groups with young people, teachers and health professionals, pilot studies, and eight large randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including over 21,000 students from 240 high schools across Australia.
The programs use evidence-based principles and the programs have been shown to be acceptable, feasible and effective in making lasting, positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of young people. Effective implementation of the program has always been considered alongside the research, and our modules have all been co-designed with teachers and students to ensure scalability into the real world.
Refer to our website here for a list of the research publications behind each of our modules. You can also see more about the evidence behind our prevention programs here, with some having earned the highest-evidence ratings from the NCETA and the Australian Government-funded Positive Choices portal.
What does evidence-based really mean?
Take a look at our blog post here, where we answer the question of what it means for our health education programs to be evidence-based, using the example of our current vaping trial.
What are the proven student benefits?
And from the Health4Life program:
- Knowledge about Big 6 risk factors
- Intentions to reduce alcohol and smoking and to improve sleep & screen time
- Short-term improvements in distress and anxiety
We are proud to be leading the way in evidence-based prevention programs for schools, knowing the lasting positive impact the OurFutures programs have on young people’s health, wellbeing, and futures.
Author: Francesca Wallis
