News - March 2003

Zippy stars Down Under

Partnership for Children Director Chris Bale reports from the World Federation for Mental Health Congress in Melbourne, Australia.

World Federation for Mental Health
February 24 2003 - More than 600 experts from all over the world have gathered here in Melbourne for the world's leading conference on mental health. A total of 276 presentations are being given over six days, covering a wide range of topics.

Earlier today, we gave a presentation on Zippy's Friends , the programme that teaches six and seven year old children how to cope with difficulties. Prof Brian Mishara of the University of Quebec at Montreal, who led the teams that have evaluated the programme, was here to announce his latest findings.

These were that:

• Children who join Zippy's Friends show clear improvements in their coping skills and empathy
• These improvements are still evident one year later
• Lithuanian children who joined the programme in kindergarten handled the transition to primary school more easily than children who did not take part.

This was one of the best attended workshops and the response from delegates was very positive. Many expressed interest in running Zippy's Friends in their own countries or states - we have had enquiries from Sydney to Sri Lanka and from Hong Kong to Tennessee.

It is encouraging that, with so many programmes being presented, Zippy's Friends should create so much interest and there seem to be two reasons for this.

Firstly, while there are many programmes for children with specific problems, little is available to promote the mental health of all children, particularly young children. Australia, for instance, has an excellent programme for secondary students called Mind Matters, but has yet to develop a similar programme for primary schools. One Australian delegate who heard about Zippy's Friends said 'I've been looking for something like this for years!'

Secondly, we have invested a lot of time and money in evaluation and are now seeing the benefits of that investment. While many programmes claim to be successful, we can show hard data to prove it. That is very important. The World Health Organisation is currently reviewing mental health promotion programmes from all over the world and is only interested in those that can produce objective and convincing evidence of their impact.

The Congress has attracted 680 delegates from 50 countries and there is no better international platform for introducing Zippy's Friends to the world's top mental health professionals. The level of interest over the past few days increases our confidence that Zippy's Friends will be introduced in many more countries over the next couple of years.