Leanne Fried

Leanne Fried is a Senior Research Fellow who currently works with arts organisations to promote the social and emotional wellbeing of young people.

Leanne believes her work is critical to developing key messages in the community that not only help to promote young people’s social and emotional wellbeing but also that of the adults in their lives. Her work is guided by the vision of a community that not only responds when young people have mental health issues but also understands the importance of, and implements, social and emotional wellbeing promotion.

Over the last three years, Leanne and the SEW – Arts research team have received approximately $500,000 in funding from Healthway to develop a resource to build the capacity of arts organisations to promote young people’s social and emotional wellbeing. The resource has been embraced by arts organisations who not only have co-developed and advised on its development but have also been involved in piloting and adapting it for use with a variety of populations.

Leanne has a background in teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.  She has a strong interest in educational psychology and has trained to implement Acceptance Commitment Therapy interventions with adolescents. She has received awards from the Education Department for projects conducted in partnership with schools.