Senior Project Officer
MPH BA(Psych) PhD
Helen Monks is a Senior Project Officer with the Tenders Support Unit at the Telethon Kids Institute. Her role focuses on developing systems, processes, and information gathering to enable the Institute to undertake high-quality contract research to Government and non-Government partner organisations.
Helen has extensive research experience in child and adolescent health, particularly across projects in the areas of mental health promotion and school-based intervention.
She completed her PhD on positive body image among women, and has a Master's Degree in Public Health that focused on predictors of bystander behaviour in bullying among secondary school students. Prior to joining the CoLab team, Helen was a Senior Research Officer at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) at Edith Cowan University.
Helen is experienced in quantitative and qualitative research conducted with young people, educators and communities. She has also coordinated numerous literature reviews and research reports, and co-authored several book chapters and research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, Helen is also experienced in coordinating and leading funding applications to a range of government and non-government organisations.
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Publications
September 2022
‘It’s All About Context’: Building School Capacity to Implement a Whole-School Approach to Bullying
Student bullying behaviours are a significant social issue in schools worldwide. Whilst school staff have access to quality bullying prevention interventions, schools can face significant challenges implementing the whole-school approach required to address the complexity of these behaviours.
Published research Parenting & Families Child Health, Development & Education Bullying Human Development and Community Wellbeing School AttendanceSeptember 2021Strengthening student social and emotional wellbeing and preventing bullying behaviours: Insights from 20 years of Friendly Schools research in Australian schools.
Strong evidence supports our current understandings of student bullying behaviours and ways schools can prevent and respond effectively to bullying behaviour. In the late 1990’s, however, little was understood about the most effective ways to reduce bullying in Australian schools. In response to schools’ need for evidence-informed action, a pipeline of research called Friendly Schools was initiated in 1999 which for the past twenty years, has provided robust whole-school evidence-based knowledge and skills to support policy makers, school staff and other practitioners working in schools and families across Australia.
Published research Bullying Human Development and Community Wellbeing School Attendance Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Aboriginal Young People Youth mental healthMay 2020Lessons from schools with high levels of support for students with type 1 diabetes: A qualitative study
This project aimed to investigate how schools provide support for the psychosocial wellbeing and disease management of students with type 1 diabetes
Diabetes (Type 1) Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Diabetes and Obesity Youth Mental HealthDecember 2019A Qualitative Exploration of Electronic Image Sharing Among Young People: Navigating the Issues of Conformity, Trust, Intention, and Reputation
This research sought to explore the main factors affecting young people's image-sharing behaviors, particularly in the context of peer relationships and norms
Published research Cyber Safety Human Development and Community WellbeingJanuary 2018School-based promotion of mental health and wellbeing to address bullying
The complexity of an issue such as school bullying and how this is best addressed as part of a systematic whole-school approach
Published research Bullying Human Development and Community WellbeingJanuary 2015Evaluating the capacity of Australian school staff to recognise and respond to cyberbullying behaviours
To prevent and manage students' cyberbullying, school staff must be aware of this behavior, be able to recognize it, and respond appropriately and skilfully.
Published research Bullying Cyber Safety Human Development and Community Wellbeing -
Education and Qualifications