La Trobe University Industry Research Scholarship - Medibank and the Bouverie Centre

This prestigious scholarship established by La Trobe University in partnership with Medibank Private, will be awarded to an outstanding applicant who is interested in generating new knowledge on the clinical and economic benefits of immediate “Walk-In” whole-of-family mental health support.

The COVID-19 context and the ongoing demands on the Victorian mental health system have highlighted high levels of need for accessible and timely therapeutic services. As a way of addressing this, The Bouverie Centre developed the Walk-in Together (WIT) Service. The WIT service offers participating families one session of therapy which is complete in itself, at the time that they request it. This service aims to meet the needs of the family on the day they present to the service without lengthy waiting times, restrictive eligibility criteria, complicated registration processes or the need for prior communication with families and therapist follow-up afterwards. Given its long-standing expertise in single session therapy, The Bouverie Centre set up this new accessible family mental health service. This project took place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, during which staff at The Bouverie Centre were providing family therapy via telehealth. Accordingly, the WIT service was delivered solely online using a web-based teleconferencing platform. A separate pilot with Indigenous families is now being seeded.

As an applicant for this scholarship, you should have an interest in family therapy; clinical model evaluation; lived experiences of different client groups; and economic benefits of clinical services. You will have a be enthusiastic about working within an integrated practice-research centre to achieve best practice outcomes for clients, practitioners and services.

The applicant will be required to conduct, for example: a systematic/rapid review; a waitlist comparison study; a qualitative study of client experiences; and/or a cost-benefit analysis study of Walk-In services versus service-as-usual. The proposed program of research will be refined in conjunction with the successful applicant. The successful applicant will be provided with exposure to multiple research methods and perspectives, with support from experienced clinicians, and qualitative, quantitative and health economics researchers.

This scholarship is available for PhD applicants.

• a La Trobe Research Scholarship for three and a half years, with a value of $33,500.00 per annum, to support your living costs (2023 rate)
• a fee-relief scholarship for up to four years
• relocation allowance and publication/thesis allowance
• opportunities to work with La Trobe’s outstanding researchers and have access to our suite of professional development programs.

In selecting successful applicants, we prioritise applications from candidates who: