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Taking the Expert Out of the Expert-Model: Lessons from Australia for Israel’s Mental Health Landscape

Writer's picture: Gila TolubGila Tolub

I spoke today with Professor Frank Oberklaid, a renowned pediatrician and developmental behavioral expert based in Melbourne and I was struck by how much of his work resonates with the challenges we face in Israel. 


Frank’s decades of experience in child mental health and community resilience shed light on how we can address some of the most pressing structural issues in our mental health system. What stood out most was his insistence on "taking the expert out of the expert-model" — a philosophy that redefines how we approach care, prevention, and empowerment in mental health.


Image of Prof. Frank Oberklaid, a leader in pediatric mental heath

Here are some key takeaways from our discussion, and what Israel can learn from Australia’s experience.


Breaking Down Silos: The Power of Mapping and Integration

One of Frank’s first observations was the sheer fragmentation within mental health services. In Victoria, a state with a population of about 7 million, there were hundreds of mental health programs — many of them operating in isolation and without coordination. Sound familiar? It’s exactly the challenge we face here in Israel, where a myriad of pilot programs and initiatives, each championed by passionate individuals or organizations, often fail to connect with one another.


Frank’s team tackled this problem through a mapping exercise to identify who was doing what and where the gaps were. With government support, they created an online suite of evidence-based programs, ensuring that schools and communities could access interventions that actually work. This not only improved efficiency but also set a standard for quality.


As Frank explained, "We mapped all the mental health resources in our state and found hundreds of programs, but very few of them were evidence-based. The government supported us in rating these programs and creating an online suite that schools could rely on."


Lesson for Israel: Conducting a comprehensive mapping of mental health programs is a necessary first step. This exercise should go beyond cataloging to assess the evidence base, scalability, and alignment with Israel’s unique cultural and systemic needs. By doing so, we can avoid duplication and channel resources into scaling the most promising initiatives.


Redefining Child Mental Health: Prevention, Not Psychiatry

One of the most provocative ideas Frank shared was his goal to "take the expert out of the expert-model" by shifting the focus of child mental health away from psychiatry and treatment. Instead, he emphasized prevention and capacity-building within families, schools, and communities. "Child mental health is not about labeling children with DSM diagnoses or sending everyone to psychiatrists," he said. "It’s about empowering parents and teachers to be the first line of defense."


This approach aligns closely with Victoria’s Mental Health in Primary Schools project, where schools introduced Mental Health and Well-Being Coordinators. These coordinators don’t diagnose or treat; instead, they:


  • Train and support teachers to handle mental health issues.

  • Build resilience across the school community.

  • Serve as liaisons between schools and external mental health services.


The program’s success has been remarkable, scaling from a pilot to every school in the state with a $200 million government grant. As Frank put it, "We found that by building capacity within schools and empowering teachers, we could address issues before they escalated."


Lesson for Israel: We must move away from a reliance on overburdened professionals and focus on prevention and community-based care. By building capacity in parents, educators, and community members, we can create a sustainable system that addresses mental health challenges early and effectively.


The Danger of Imported Models

Frank cautioned against the temptation to import off-the-shelf models from other countries. As he put it, "A shelf model from another culture, another country, is not going to automatically work in Israel or Australia." Programs designed for Nottingham or Florida might look good on paper but fail to resonate in the local context. Instead, Frank emphasized the importance of co-designing solutions with communities to ensure cultural relevance and practical application.


Lesson for Israel: While it’s tempting to replicate successful international models, we must invest in adapting and co-designing these interventions with our communities. Cultural nuances, societal norms, and even language play a critical role in the success of any mental health program.


Evidence-Based Action: Setting a High Bar

Frank stressed the importance of being “ruthless” when it comes to evaluating programs. “Not everything is the same,” he said. “Not everyone has an evidence base for their work.” His team persuaded the Victorian government to rate mental health programs based on their evidence base, ensuring only the most effective interventions were scaled.


In Israel, we often see charismatic leaders with compelling stories securing funding for programs that lack rigorous evaluation. While these programs may have merit, the absence of data makes it difficult to compare their effectiveness or justify scaling them.


Lesson for Israel: We need to set clear criteria for evaluating mental health programs, including evidence of effectiveness, scalability, and alignment with national priorities. By prioritizing evidence-based interventions, we can ensure that resources are used wisely and outcomes are maximized.


The Implementation Gap: Knowing the Right Thing to Do vs. Doing It

One of the biggest lessons from Australia’s National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is that having a clear, evidence-based roadmap is not enough—implementing it is the real challenge. The strategy, which Frank chaired, took nearly two years to develop, with extensive input from professionals, families, academics, and at-risk communities. It lays out a 10-year plan for systemic change, but as Frank admitted, "It’s being implemented too slowly, of course."


Even with broad consensus on what needs to be done, systemic change is hard. Bureaucratic inertia, competing priorities, and funding limitations slow down progress. This is a critical insight for Israel: having a well-thought-out plan is only the beginning. Driving implementation requires continuous advocacy, political will, and mechanisms for accountability.a


Lesson for Israel: Even when we know what works, implementation doesn’t happen automatically. We need to push for mechanisms that hold governments accountable for acting on the evidence, ensuring that reforms don’t just exist on paper but translate into real change on the ground.


Looking Ahead: A Call for Collective Action

Frank’s insights have inspired me. He reiterated that the kind of collective impact model that ICAR Collective is pushing is not easy to push, but that it’s necessary. We must continue to bring together NGOs, tech companies, academia, and the government to tackle the fragmentation in Israel’s mental health system. Our upcoming summit in February will be a critical step in fostering these connections and setting a shared agenda for action. We must work together, embrace evidence-based approaches, and empower our communities. It’s not just about fixing what’s broken; it’s about reimagining what’s possible.


So, Frank, thank you for the inspiration and I’ll be writing more about “taking the expert out of the expert-model.” This is something that we need to speak about if we want to increase access to care despite the workforce challenges. We don’t have a choice.


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