Duration
Study one unit across a seven-week study period, allowing you to complete your Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health within 2 years. It's recommended that you spend approximately 20 hours per week on your postgraduate study. Our 100% online Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health program allows you to study when it suits you and you are not required to be online at a specific time.
Fees
$34,600 for all 12 units. FEE-HELP is a Commonwealth Government loan scheme that helps eligible full-fee paying students pay all or part of their tuition fees. FEE-HELP is available for this program.
Units
Study one unit each seven-week study period with our multi-award-winning Block Model. Assessments are delivered at the same time each study period, allowing for deep and focused learning.
Study intakes
There are six study periods each year, allowing you to begin your Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the start of any study period. You will study one unit at a time over the seven-week study period. If required, you are able to skip a study period.
July, Aug, Oct
Why study the Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Online?
Award-winning VU Block Model®
Our postgraduate online Block Model has won consecutive LearnX Live! Awards for ‘Best Online Learning Model’. With VU Online you can have a consistent, manageable and connected online learning experience.
Support 7 days a week and in the evenings
Get the support you need, when you need it. Our support network has a single focus on ensuring you are entirely supported to succeed.
Unique, one-of-a-kind university qualification
Study a unique university mental health qualification in Australia specifically designed to focus on engaging and working with children and adolescents. Be empowered to apply your knowledge in schools and educational settings.
Overview
We’re living in a time where the lives of children and adolescents are more complicated than ever. The demand for professionals in youth mental health has never been greater.
You can drive positive impact with VU Online’s Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health—a unique university qualification for child and adolescent mental health in Australia.
Gain work-based knowledge and skills to engage successfully with a range of children, adolescents, families, carers and clinicians across educational, therapeutic, community and clinical settings—including for diverse and vulnerable populations.
By exploring advanced care strategies, relevant treatment techniques, therapies and interventions, you’ll be able to create better mental health outcomes for children and adolescents.
You will also undertake research to contribute to our growing understanding of child and adolescent mental health, gaining valuable evidence-based skills and being empowered to drive inter-agency collaboration, as well as schools-based and family-focused interventions.
VU Online’s Postgraduate Block Model
Our postgraduate online Block Model is designed to be flexible, interactive and student-centred. You’ll experience structured and supportive online learning, and benefit from 1:1 academic support via phone, email or SMS, seven days a week and in the evenings.
With VU Online’s Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, you can enhance your skills and transform mental health services. You’ll gain in-demand, specialised skills in evidence-based assessment and intervention approaches in child and adolescent mental health. You can apply your skills in a range of educational, therapeutic, community and clinical settings.
Ready to make a difference in the lives of youths? VU's online Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health can help you achieve your goals.
Our program equips you with the expertise and practical skills to promote health and well-being for young people.
From developmental psychology and trauma-informed care to community engagement and mental health assessment, our curriculum covers a range of essential topics.
With a Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health from VU, you can unlock new career opportunities and make a positive impact on future generations.
- School Mental Health Practitioner
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Consultant
- Student Health Coordinator
- School Counsellor
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator
What you will study
This unit introduces students to the key principles and approaches of mental health and recovery-oriented services delivered to diverse children, adolescents, and their families. Learning focuses on presentations of mental ill-health in children and adolescents, who are experiencing challenging social and family environments. The unit examines a range of barriers and enablers to child and adolescent friendly mental health service provision. Students will reflect on strategies to provide culturally appropriate, family-focused, multidisciplinary, and intersectoral mental health services to children and adolescents.
This unit examines key principles, strategies, and approaches to engage with and assess diverse children and adolescents experiencing mental-ill health. Students interrogate how to conduct responsible, safe, and ethical risk assessments guided by relevant legislative frameworks. Learning includes a comprehensive analysis of child and adolescent-friendly models and approaches for successful clinical practice. Students also critically reflect on their interpersonal communication when conducting age-appropriate biopsychosocial, culturally appropriate risk assessments.
In this unit, students examine the experiences of trauma among people from diverse populations, cultures, and age groups and its impact across the lifespan. Students will analyse the way people, with the lived experience of trauma, report feeling stigmatised, discriminated against and misunderstood. These impacts include emotional dysregulation, substance misuse, self-harm, and suicidal behaviours. Students will also appraise the eight foundational principles of trauma-informed care and practice that focus on modelling interpersonal relationships, working with cultural differences, advocating for consumer control and choice, inspiring hope, supporting recovery, and integrating care. The unit requires students to critically reflect on their practice through a trauma-informed lens and interrogate the importance of recovery-oriented practice when caring for people who have experienced trauma.
In this unit, students focus on developing their understanding of mental ill-health. Students examine the most common mental illnesses; the factors that contribute to their prevalence; and the impact of mental illness on the lived experience of diverse people, families, and communities. Students also examine mental health as a national health priority, together with mental health promotion and illness prevention services and strategies. Other aspects of the unit include the legal and ethical frameworks that guide how practitioners work with people with mental illness; and the specific skills needed to build and maintain person-centred therapeutic relationships that promote recovery and resilience. Students will also critically reflect on the need for practitioners to self-care and the importance of consumer-centred supervision.
In this unit, students critically reflect on the lived experience of mental illness. The students' learning journey begins by examining past institutional abuse of people with mental illness and the continuing effects of stigma across social and diverse cultural contexts. Students analyse the evolution of the mental health consumer movement, focusing on consumer rights, autonomy, self-determination, collaborative decision-making, and strength-based models to support recovery from mental ill-health. Students also interrogate how to support consumers who have complex mental illness or who exhibit challenging behaviours, within a consumer-centred, recovery-oriented framework. Students will also debate the challenges that arise when balancing the diverse needs of consumers and carers in relation to confidentiality, privacy, and disclosure.
This unit examines biopsychosocial and cultural perspectives of mental illness. This includes the links between serious mental illness, physical health conditions, complex comorbidities, and disability. Students will interrogate the correlation between lower levels of physical health, mental health, and socio-economic indices for people experiencing chronic physical conditions and mental ill-health. Students will also cross-examine the ethical dilemmas and cultural perspectives of mental ill-health for people with diverse experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, LGBTQIA+ peoples, veteran groups, and people from metropolitan, regional, rural, and remote communities across Australia. Students will also evaluate the value of care coordination and care planning approaches for people with complex health and sociocultural needs.
In this unit, students examine the role of schools in supporting children and adolescents through their developmental stages and establishing foundations for future wellbeing. School communities play a key role in delivering mental health promotion and primary prevention services to children and adolescents. Likewise, school-based services are crucial to helping and supporting children and adolescents who experience emotional, behavioural, or mental health challenges. An important focus of students' learning is education programs delivered to support health and wellbeing, build resilience, and enable early intervention for those who need additional support. Students also critically analyse the importance of school counsellors, family-focused interventions, referral to other services for multidisciplinary support, and close collaboration between health and education services.
This unit investigates evidence-based research and its application in the healthcare setting. Students will develop and refine their skills in searching and critically reviewing and evaluating available nursing and healthcare research and evidence. Students will also learn to use critical appraisal tools to evaluate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research. By examining systematic reviews to clarify how evidence is synthesised, students will critically appraise literature and identify gaps in current knowledge to design and develop research proposals and/or projects.
The focus of this unit is the assessment of people who experience the symptoms of mental ill-health. Students are supported to extend their knowledge and skills in conducting mental health assessments, to encompass the full range of complex health needs of mental health consumers and their family or carers. Students will learn how to conduct a range of comprehensive risk assessments to advance their understanding and application of classification systems to mental health disorders. The unit requires students to critically evaluate how to apply the findings of an assessment to provide a range of ethical consumer-centred treatment options.
This unit develops students' knowledge of psychological therapies used in mental health settings to support people who experience symptoms of mental illness or ill-health. Students will consider how to apply a range of therapeutic modalities used in the management of mental health problems and illnesses in culturally appropriate ways. Students will also critically examine cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles and skills and their application with children, adolescents, adults and older people who experience mental health problems. The unit further interrogates the evidence base for the more common non-pharmacological approaches, such as dialectical behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy, psychodynamic approaches and mindfulness-based interventions.
This unit supports students to interrogate the nature of dependency on and addiction to substances, such as licit and illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; and behavioural addictions to food, sex, gambling, video games, social media and gaming. Students deconstruct the concepts, models, and theories of addiction; and national and international policies and approaches to addressing addictive behaviours. An important focus of the unit is the analysis of the processes involved in achieving behavioural change, including prevention programs, counselling strategies, techniques such as motivational interviewing, and evidence-based approaches to reducing harm.
In this unit students consolidate their training by investigating a significant issue in their specialisation through undertaking a research project. Students will strengthen their evidence-based research capabilities by participating in a number of key phases and activities of an evidence-based research project to inform practice. Students will critically review the literature, including academic, policy and/or practice evidence, collecting, analysing, interpreting and disseminating findings in the form of a report or journal article for publication.
Entry requirements
View entry requirements, career options and what’s available to you, through our extensive student support network below.
- Completed an AQF Level 7 Bachelor in a cognate discipline such as Health Science, Social Work, Psychology, Medicine, Counselling, Criminal Justice, Youth Work and Education OR
- Completed an AQF Level 7 Bachelor in any discipline and at least 2 years approved work experience OR
- A Victoria University Graduate Certificate in Mental Health OR
- A Victoria University Graduate Certificate in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Fees & FEE-HELP
A Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health from VU Online costs $2,870 - $2,950 per unit*, taking the total for 12 units to $34,600*.
This depends on the number of units you study and whether you are eligible for Advanced Standing, which is assessed after you submit your application.
10% discount for alumni
If you’ve previously completed a qualification with us (and didn't apply through an agent), you may be eligible for a 10% discount.
Note that you may be eligible for the Australian Government’s loan scheme, FEE-HELP. The loans are available to assist eligible full-fee paying students with the cost of a university program. It can be used for all or part of the tuition. To determine your eligibility, visit the FEE-HELP website.
*2027 student fees are shown and are subject to change.
For more information on fees and student support, download a brochure.
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What our students say
Studying with VU was a really positive experience. The small class sizes made it easy to ask questions and get support, and I never felt like just a number. Being able to tailor assessments to my own area of work meant the learning felt practical and genuinely relevant to my practice.
What our students say
I am receiving a lot of support from my facilitators and my Student Success Advisor, who boosts my confidence and self-esteem.
What our students say
It was personally satisfying connecting and collaborating with a range of industry professionals. Many have become valuable work contacts, some even lifelong friends and career mentors.
What our students say
The flexibility, relevance and opportunity that VU Online brings to higher education are testaments to excellence in teaching and learning.
Frequently asked questions
No, however it is designed and delivered by leading mental health academics and practitioners. It is a unique university mental health qualification in Australia specifically designed to focus on engaging and working with children and adolescents.
Our Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health will give you specialist skills in assessment and intervention approaches which you can apply in a range of educational, therapeutic, community and clinical settings.
Our Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health is a unique university mental health qualification in Australia specifically designed to focus on engaging and working with children and adolescents. This degree will empower you to drive inter-agency collaboration, drive schools- and family-focused interventions, and engage with childen, adolescents, families, carers and clincians across settings.
In addition, VU Online's postgraduate Block Model allows you to study one unit at a time so you can manage study alongside work and other commitments. You'll have access to support seven days a week and in the evenings, so you can achieve your goals.
Our Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health course addresses mental health challenges that arise from early childhood (5 - 12) through adolescence (up to 18). The curriculum explores a range of conditions, including developmental disorders and common adolescent concerns such as anxiety and depression. The course places a strong emphasis on early identification and family-centred care, covering specific childhood disorders like autism and ADHD.
In contrast, some youth mental health courses focus primarily on adolescents and young adults (ages 12-25), often addressing issues related to identity formation and peer relationships, as well as conditions that typically emerge during adolescence, such as eating disorders and substance use. While both our course and some youth mental health courses examine common mental health conditions, the theoretical frameworks may differ. Our course incorporates early childhood development and family systems, whereas some youth mental health courses may concentrate on psychosocial development and the transition to independence. By including children in its scope, our course provides a comprehensive foundation for working with younger age groups, appealing to those seeking a holistic understanding of mental health from childhood through adolescence.
The Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health is for professionals who want to gain specialised mental health skills that can be applied in educational, community, therapeutic and community settings. This course is a great option if you would like to engage with children, adolescents, families, carers and clinicians to drive positive impact. Our Master of Mental Health is for allied health and social care professionals who want to apply contemporary approaches to mental health to their role.
A master’s in public health‑style specialist degree, like a Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, is a postgraduate qualification focused on understanding, assessing, and responding to mental health needs specifically within childhood and adolescence. Rather than covering mental health across all ages, this type of postgraduate mental health degree emphasises developmental, family, school‑based, community, and early‑intervention approaches tailored to children and young people. Students typically build expertise in evidence‑based assessment, trauma‑informed care, biopsychosocial perspectives, and strategic mental health practices. This level of study equips graduates with the advanced skills needed to contribute to policy, program design, inter‑agency collaboration, and frontline mental health practices with younger populations.
The Master of Child and Adolescent Mental Health offered by VU Online is a fully online postgraduate degree designed for professionals who want to develop these specialist capabilities. Through a structured curriculum delivered over 12 units, students explore child and adolescent mental health foundations, engagement and assessment methods, trauma‑informed care, cultural and biopsychosocial perspectives, wellbeing in school contexts, and research application. The program is intended to prepare graduates to make a meaningful impact on therapeutic, community, educational, and clinical environments by promoting wellbeing and supporting positive outcomes for children and adolescents, their families, and support networks.
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