Dr Catherine Johnson

I am a Psychology Research Fellow in the Flinders Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing. I am passionate about increasing the effectiveness of wellbeing education programs in schools.

During my PhD, I conducted four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of mindfulness in secondary schools. Results demonstrated that 8-week, whole-class mindfulness programs may not be best suited for adolescents. I have also personally taught a range of other classroom based programs to adolescents (e.g., perfectionism, cognitive behaviour therapy, body image), giving me coal-face experience of adolescent engagement in wellbeing education.

Together with a private South Australian ELC-Year 12 school, I received funding to test a novel school-university research partnership, which introduced data collection systems to evaluate the need for, engagement in and impact of existing wellbeing programs. I also developed a framework for sequencing programs from pre-school to Year 12 to reinforce key concepts and skills. This project has provided unique insights to inform wellbeing education models.

My current research interests include (1) supporting mentally healthy transitions to secondary school, (2) determining the active ingredients for effective approaches to school wellbeing, (3) reinforcing the development of key wellbeing skills across the school journey, and (4) increasing student buy-in to wellbeing programs.