Postgraduate

Master of Mental Health Science

The Department of Psychiatry at Monash University has developed a contemporary Masters of Mental Health Sciences Degree.

The Master of Mental Health Science (MMHSci) consists of a suite of specialisation courses to suit the learning needs of professionals who work in or who wish to work in the mental health field. These flexible courses allow you to study towards a Graduate Certificate, a Graduate Diploma or a full Masters degree. For administrative purposes, all students must enrol in the master’s program (72 credit points), but can exit early with a graduate certificate (24 credit points) or graduate diploma (48 credit points) if they wish.

For enrolment enquiries, contact Andrea Peres, Course Administrator - Master of Mental Health Science: mmhs.psych@monash.edu

Why study Mental Health Sciences View

Why do we need to know about mental health and mental health disorders?

Mental health is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a state of mental well-being enabling people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn, work and contribute to community.

Mental Health is an integral component of our general health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in.

Mental health is a basic human right, enjoying quality of mental health as with physical health is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.

Mental Health issues and disorders, psychosocial disabilities and a range of mental states impact on our general wellbeing and quality of life. They lie on a complex continuum with mental health and wellbeing . They are associated with significant distress, impairment of functioning and risk of self-harm. WHO reports suicide as the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds, despite being preventable with evidence based interventions. One in every eight people in the world live with a mental disorder.

We are living in unprecedent uncertain times where our mental and physical health are being impacted greatly by local and global events. Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how we are all connected, and the relationship between the environment, physical health and mental health.

Why should we study about mental health?

Awareness of mental health is important but not sufficient in making a change.

A skilled and competent multi-disciplinary workforce is urgently needed to provide effective integrated services to improve the mental health of all community members worldwide.

Multiple levels of the workforce from specialist clinicians to those working in non-health settings such as occupational health and safety, educational providers, child protection services to policy makers will benefit from learning about mental health and mental disorders. Mental health promotion and prevention is needed alongside mental health care and treatment. Mental health and mental disorders are a public health issues.

Benefits of studying the Master of Mental Health Science at Monash University View

Semester dates View

I stand taller and more confident in the work I do in the mental health and suicide prevention sector having studied this life-changing course – I loved it! Ingrid Ozols AM (Former student and current Lived Experience Consultant for this course)

Available specialisations and general award

Single Unit Enrolments in Mental Health Science

You can apply to study a single subject (unit) at Monash University, without enrolling in an entire course - you won’t receive an award at the completion of study; however, you can purchase an official transcript of your results. If you intend to enrol in a course after completing single units you may be able to apply for a credit transfer.

Single unit enrolment flyer

MHS5101: Mental health of the elderly unit encompasses a broad range of topics within the area of aged mental health, including depression, anxiety, dementia, delirium, delusional disorders as well as other conditions. The central elements to psychiatric assessment are covered including presentation and history taking, symptom recognition, cognitive and neuropsychological testing as well as treatment and management principles. Various case scenarios provide examples of key issues that can arise, the course of an illness as well as the application of appropriate therapeutic strategies. This unit also draws attention to aspects of successful ageing, as well as indigenous mental health, service delivery, psychopharmacology and protection issues surrounding the vulnerable elderly person.
Not offered in Semester 1, 2026
MHS5103: Contemporary research and practice in family violence (online) unit provides students with the theoretical basis of family violence, practically applied to clinical practice in a way that is pragmatic, creative and flexible. The unit is designed for interactive learning via online case discussions and forum postings.
Students will be introduced to the nature and extent of the issue and the impact to the individuals involved in family violence, and the broader community. The gender basis of family violence will be examined, as will the spectrum of behaviours that constitute aggression in the family context.
Risk factors that increase vulnerability to family violence, and the literature on risk and threat assessments in family violence, with special considerations for the family situation, will be critically examined for the ability to establish predictive validity.
Students will be introduced to the special issues that pertain to working with indigenous families and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The sometimes weak empirical basis of interventions for perpetrators, victims and the use of family interventions will also be explored.
This unit will be of interest to psychologists, nurses, doctors and social workers wanting to update their knowledge of the family violence field and any practitioner who is required to evaluate risk of continued violence and/or escalating risk.
Not offered in Semester 1, 2026
MHS5104: Psychopharmocology and physical treatments in mental health care (online) unit provides students with a theoretical underpinning of psychopharmacology and physical treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), as used in contemporary psychiatric practice.
Students will be introduced to the pharmacokinetics of medications used in psychiatric practice, and to the principles of safe prescribing according to the age, health and cultural background of the patient involved.
Students will use the foundational knowledge of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and therapeutics, in order to critically analyse how medications affect physiological, biochemical and pathophysiological processes.
Students will also be introduced to the special considerations and issues that pertain to working with patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.The unit will cover antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics, mood stabilisers, psychostimulants and other adjunctive psychotropic medications.
Students will appraise medication indications, mechanisms of action, dose titration and contemporary uses, side-effects, drug interactions and relevant communication challenges in psychopharmacology.
Similarly, with physical therapies like ECT and TMS, the indications, mechanisms of action, side-effects and interaction with pharmacotherapies will be explored.
This unit will be of interest to training psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, general practitioners, mental health nurses and case managers engaged in the care of mental health consumers.
Offered: Semester 2
MHS5105: Fundamentals of forensic psychiatry Forensic Psychiatry is a sub-specialty field of psychiatry that stands at an interface between law, mental illness and abnormal human behaviour. It is related to criminology (the study of crime and criminals), and it has an interface between the law and psychiatry.
Typically, forensic services deal with assessing offenders with mental illness and provide expert opinion to the Courts on the aetiology, pathology and prognosis of offenders.
Forensic psychiatry expert opinion might be sought by the courts to comment on; fitness (the ability of a mentally disordered offender to stand trial); mental impairment defenses in the setting of criminal responsibility and the mentally disordered offender during the conduct of the offences and the likelihood of future risk of such behaviour.
Forensic services also provide treatment and rehabilitation of mentally disordered offenders and focus on safely reintegrating them back to the community, while also being acutely aware of any risks such individuals pose to the community. Forensic services are also involved in identifying, treating and managing mentally disordered offenders who enter the correctional system.
Thus, the role of the forensic psychiatrist is multifold and requires an understanding of mental illness in the setting of criminal offending, legislation governing such offenders, and risk assessment.
The role of this unit is to ensure that the student develops a basic understanding of forensic psychiatry and the role of the forensic psychiatrist.
The unit will also enable the student to understand the various approaches to violence risk assessment, the role of the expert witness, the multiple approaches to service delivery in prison settings, prison hospitals and the community, and finally the task of treatment and rehabilitation of the mentally ill offender.
This unit will be of interest to training psychiatrists (particularly training psychiatrists offered RANZCP mid-year entry for RANZCP training), clinical psychologists, general practitioners, mental health nurses and case managers engaged in the care of mental health consumers.
Offered: Semester 2
MHS5106: Ethics of mental health care unit will cover the essentials components of psychiatric ethics and is recognised by The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) as part of an accredited formal education course that includes an elective ethics component.
This unit teaches ethical concepts in capacity, the ethics of coercive treatment, boundary issues, issues of the exercise of power in psychiatry, privacy ad confidentiality, relationships with industry (particularly pharmaceutical companies), end-of-life decisions (including 'do not resuscitate' orders), child protection, ethics of duality and conflicts of interest and the ethics of the distribution of healthcare resources.
Professionalism in the workplace is introduced with teaching on personal ethics and integrity, maintaining professional standards, and personal well being. The unit also examines the principles underpinning mental health legislation and local legislation as it applies to specific groups of patients (forensic, child, adolescent and addiction), responsibilities under the Mental Health Act, relevant common law principles, e.g. capacity, necessity, duty-of-care, duty-to-warn, mandatory reporting requirements (including ethical considerations and health practitioner's context), testamentary capacity, advance health directives, supported and substitute decision making (e.g. guardianship and administration, and enduring power of attorney), understanding the role of an expert in legal proceedings, and the principles of psychiatric defences and fitness to plead/stand trial
This unit will be of interest to training psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, general practitioners, mental health nurses and case managers engaged in the care of mental health consumers.
Offered in Semester 1, 2026
PIT5005: Psychiatry of the medically ill. This unit will introduce you to the essentials of consultation liaison psychiatry. This includes principles of assessment and management, and introduction to psychological therapies for the medically ill. Subspecialty areas of psycho-oncology, neuropsychiatry, cardiology, renal medicine, chronic pain, gastroenterology, endocrinology and women’s health will be covered. This unit is offered only to training psychiatrists.
Offered: Semester 1 & 2
PIT5006: Child and adolescent psychiatry unit will introduce and prepare students in essentials of the psychiatric care of children, adolescents and their families such as introduction to, epidemiology, aetiology, neurobiology, and principles of diagnostic paradigms, assessment and management of major categories of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
The foundation skills in interviewing and assessment of children and adolescents, mental status examination, appropriate medical assessments and investigations, use of collateral sources, family interviewing, developmental assessment, principles of identifying, diagnosing and managing major clinical disorders thus acquired will essentially underpin a student's progress towards becoming a specialist psychiatrist.
This unit will provide a sound academic platform for the trainee's clinical training. The Formal Education Course (FEC) requirement of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) identifies "an awareness of concepts", "working knowledge" or "in-depth knowledge" of the major clinical disorders in children and adolescents this unit is uniquely positioned to enable the student meet these requirements.
This unit will be of interest to training psychiatrists (particularly training psychiatrists offered RANZCP mid-year entry for RANZCP training), clinical psychologists, general practitioners, mental health nurses and case managers engaged in the care of mental health consumers.
Offered: Semester 1 and Semester 2

Doctor of Psychology (DPsych)

This research degree integrates theory, clinical practice and research to qualify students to work as work in clinical and research settings. The Department of Psychiatry provides project support for theses in the DPsych program.

PhD in Psychiatry

The Psychiatry PhD program follows the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash Program and reflects the wide range of research currently being undertaken in the department. Students from a wide range of fields including science, psychology, allied health, engineering and medical backgrounds have undertaken their PhD projects in areas ranging from laboratory based to clinical studies. Further information on potential research projects can be found on our research page.

Pathways to psychiatry

Postgraduate Psychiatry Training in School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health

The Department of Psychiatry has close linkage with the RANZCP Fellowship Program through involvement of the Monash University academics in the Monash Health Psychiatry Training Program.

Department of Psychiatry

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Postgraduate

Master of Mental Health Science

Why study Mental Health Sciences View

Why do we need to know about mental health and mental health disorders?

Why should we study about mental health?

Benefits of studying the Master of Mental Health Science at Monash University View

Flexible exit pathways

Interdisciplinary learning

Convenient and flexible study with a hybrid model of mainly online study

Complete the Masters degree by coursework or research

Gain a qualification from one of the top 50 universities