Professor Aliza Werner-Seidler

My Expertise

I have expertise in the prevention and early intervention of adolescent and young adult depression and anxiety disorders. My vision is to bring the prevention of common mental health disorders into mainstream medicine, and to reverse the trend of worsening mental health in young people. Vaccination is among the key successes of modern medicine and I envisage a future where every single young person regardless of their risk or circumstance, receives effective prevention programs which decrease their risk of developing mental health programs. I conduct large scale effectiveness and implementation trials to examine the best ways to embed evidence-based prevention programs into the school system. I am also interested in the role of poor sleep as a risk factor for depression and other mental health problems among young people, and conduct research into the role of sleep and insomnia as a therapeutic target for mental health.

Keywords

depression

anxiety disorders

mental health

adolescent psychology

children and youth

insomnia

sleep

cognitive behavioral therapy

eHealth

internet cognitive behaviour therapy (icbt)

randomised controlled trial (rct)

early intervention

Fields of Research (FoR)

Mental Health, Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology, Psychiatry (incl. Psychotherapy), Mobile Technologies

SEO tags

Mental Health

Mental Health Services

Biography

My research program uses experimental and clinical trial methodology to examine the best ways to prevent and treat mental illness in young people.

My work involves conducting studies and trials to examine the best ways to prevent and treat common mental illness (depression, anxiety, insomnia) in young people, using evidence-based programs, delivered both through the school system and in the community. I am currently leading the Future Proofing Study - a longitudinal cohort study of adolescent mental health will use this data to better understand the risk factors and reasons why young people develop mental illness in the first place. The overall goal of this research is to improve prevention treatments and better target those who are at risk. I am particularly interested in addressing the gender gap in mental illness - girls and women currently experience mental ill health at a rate of twice that relates to boys and men.

My current research areas include:

Prevention and treatment of depression and anxiety disorders
School mental health, including student wellbeing, and program implementation in schools
Treatment of child and adolescent insomnia and sleep disturbance
Digital delivery and blended care models of treatment for mental illness

For information on specific projects please go to: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/research/our-researchers/aliza-werner-seidler

My Grants

Selection of current grants:

Goodman Foundation. Development of a blended care model of treatment for adolescent depression. CIs: Werner-Seidler, O'Dea (2023-2026).

NHMRC Investigator Grant. The Kids Aren't Alright: Preventing Adolescent Depression. Sole CI: Werner-Seidler (2021-2026).

Medical Research Future Fund. Optimising Treatments in Mental Health Using Artificial Intelligence. CIs: Christensen, Huckvale, Newby, Werner-Seidler, Beames, Han, Venkatesh, Gupta, Quin, Mouzakis, Vasa, Kummerfeld, Cutler (2020-2023).