Nurturing mental health and wellbeing for resilient futures

Building resilience is something that should be taught throughout schools today. But a wide range of factors influence how to develop and build this adaptive process, which can contribute greatly to mental health.

Associate Professor Justine Gatt, from the UNSW Sydney School of Psychology, and Director of the Centre of Wellbeing, Resilience and Recovery at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), says both “genetics and individual life experiences shape brain function and our mental wellbeing.”

A/Prof. Gatt’s lab is physically based at NeuRA, where she and her team can run MRI scans. She says being based at a research focused institute helps progress the research with direct access to support and facilities.

One example of this work is the TWIN-10 study, which A/Prof Gatt’s team has led for the past 15 years. One of her team members, Dr Haeme Park, a Research Fellow also from NeuRA, helped coordinate the collection of functional MRI (fMRI) scans to explore this concept with 1600 adult twins over 12 years. The scans were conducted while the participants completed tasks designed to provoke emotional and cognitive responses.

They found some tasks were significantly influenced by genetics, while others were shaped by environmental factors. These results offered insights into how different brain areas activate.

“Some emotional and cognitive processes showed both genetic and environmental influences,” A/Prof. Gatt says. “For example, processing fear and happiness shared genetic factors, while attention and memory were shaped by life experiences.”

It was this potential for influence that demonstrated how humans can develop strategies to enhance their resilience.

“We can influence our emotional and cognitive responses,” Dr Park says.

This point is crucial for future mental health research.

Challenges & opportunities

To address the complexities of measuring wellbeing, A/Prof. Gatt and her team developed the COMPAS-W scale, which incorporates elements of both hedonia (subjective wellbeing) and eudaimonia (psychological wellbeing).

The scale assesses factors such as life satisfaction, purpose and autonomy. This allows researchers to categorise an individual’s wellbeing as languishing, moderate or flourishing, and to do this across the life-course – from children to older adults.

A/Prof. Gatt says those diagnosed with mental health conditions can still report high levels of wellbeing. Conversely, those without clinical diagnoses might experience low wellbeing.

A/Prof. Gatt says, “This insight is significant, especially for chronic conditions like ADHD or anxiety, as it shows that individuals can achieve adequate wellbeing even while managing symptoms.”

She also developed the resilience and wellbeing app ReNeuWell®, which incorporates the COMPAS-W scale. The app provides a tailored four-week program of activities that draw upon evidence-based psychological concepts or approaches. These include mindfulness, meditation, coping with stress, self-compassion, acts of kindness, gratitude diaries, positive event scheduling and goal-setting.

“The app promotes resilience and mental wellbeing for the 80% of the adult population who may not necessarily meet the criteria for mental illness diagnosis,” says A/Prof. Gatt. “But who may nonetheless be looking for self-help options to boost their own wellbeing.”

Forward focused

With a commitment to enhancing mental wellbeing in high-stress professions, A/Prof. Gatt also partnered with the Nursing Education Workforce Research (NEWR) unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH) in Sydney to develop the Thrive program for healthcare workers.

Employees in this work setting often experience higher levels of occupational stress and lower levels of mental wellbeing. A/Prof. Gatt says this was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Using a co-design process, we developed the Thrive program to focus on brain health and mental wellbeing,” she says. “This provides educational resources for developing healthy habits across seven areas of life. It also aims to measure whether participants’ wellbeing improves as a result.”

The initial program was offered to all staff at POWH and there are plans to expand to include all healthcare workers within the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD).

The quest to understand the relationship between resilience, genetics, and environment is ongoing.

Dr Luke Egan, an ECR researcher of A/Prof Gatt’s Team helping support ReNeuWell® and the Thrive programs says, “There’s still much to uncover and support in the wellbeing space.”

A/Prof. Gatt’s future studies will explore how wellbeing evolves over time and how these factors contribute to resilience.

Mental health is multifaceted by nature, she says.

“By understanding how both our experiences and genetic predispositions shape our emotional and cognitive responses, we can create more effective strategies for promoting resilience and improving mental wellbeing for everyone.”