Research leaders

A/Professor Kate Filia

A/Prof Kate Filia is a Principal Research Fellow and co-Head of Social and Functional Recovery Research at Orygen. Her work focuses on understanding and addressing social exclusion - a key social determinant of mental health - across prevention, treatment and ongoing care.

Kate developed the Filia Social Inclusion Measure (F-SIM16), a brief tool that assesses key areas of life including relationships, education and employment, housing and neighbourhood, and finances. The tool is now used internationally in research, clinical, and policy settings, supporting growing efforts to better understand and promote social inclusion in mental health.

Kate also leads Orygen’s collaboration with Mission Australia on the national Youth Survey - the largest annual survey of young people in Australia. Working with a multidisciplinary team to produce reports on issues such as social exclusion, climate concerns, cost-of-living pressures, and youth mental health. 

A key focus of Kate’s work is exploring how social exclusion affects young people’s access to mental health care. Her team is developing practical resources to support services in recognising and responding to social exclusion as part of everyday care.