Engaging children, who have a parent with a mental illness, into peer support programs: What works?
Quick facts:
• Children, who have a parent with a mental illness, have a higher risk of acquiring a mental illness.
• Peer support programs that are provided in a holistic family manner, can offer support and information to children and their families.
• It is difficult to engage parents and children into prevention programs.
• Successful recruitment strategies include relationship building with family members, extensive outreach, involving families in recruitment, advance planning logistics, program consistency, stigma busting, the use of social media and advocating for a whole of family approach.
Read the whole COPMI GEM: http://www.copmi.net.au/images/pdf/gems-edition-26c.pdf
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Interested in becoming a SKIPS presenter?
Becoming a SKIPS Presenter strengthens and enhances the roles of professionals who work with Primary School staff and children in their final years of Primary School.
Professionals who currently make great SKIPS Presenters include:
• School Psychologists
• Mental Health Clinicians
• Child and Youth Workers
• Counsellors
• Community/Family Mental Health workers
• Health Promotion officers • Community development workers
• School Focused Youth coordinators
• Welfare coordinators
• Senior Teachers
• CYMHS workers
• COPMI/FaPMI workers
…New videos clips for young people have been launched by the Children of Parents with a Mental illness (COPMI) national initiative, to help young people aged ten years to young adulthood. The short clips aim to strengthen children's understanding of their parent's mental illness and how symptoms can affect their parents' behaviour.
…Elizabeth Thomas, a recently retired Victorian primary school Principal, speaks about the value of having the SKIPS program run in schools.
View the video here: https://youtu.be/73urTr1Sum8
…On Tuesday 21st April, the Honourable James Merlino MP launched a resource booklet developed for Primary School staff wishing to better support families where a parent has a mental illness.
The launch was attended by the local community and included: Principals, Wellbeing staff, local government School Focused Youth Coordinators, parents, children with a parent with a mental illness and professionals working in the mental health and education fields.
To read the articles that appeared in the local paper please click here.
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