Why does mental health matter to all involved in contact?
Children and young people’s mental health is everybody’s business and having an awareness of mental health issues enables us to better identify and support children and young people in need. Mental/emotional health and family relationships have been the most talked about issues in Childline counselling sessions with children and young people over the last three years with 8,849 counselling sessions specifically relating to parental divorce and separation. Children and young people whose parents are separating or have separated or divorced are at risk of developing mental health problems. Although this does not necessarily mean that the child will experience problems or have difficulties, the risk is there.
With mental health on the agenda NACCC’s conference this year features keynote speaker Dr Carole Kaplan speaking on the relevance of mental health awareness to everyone working or volunteering in a child contact centre. This is your chance to see how these issues affect children using your centre.
You will also have a choice to update your awareness in the following subjects with workshops on:
- Responding to conflict and reluctant families
- Safeguarding/Child Protection for Volunteers/Staff working in a Supported Child Contact Centre (Attendance on this course will count towards your mandatory training requirements for safeguarding and will mean you do not have to complete the safeguarding module).
- Listening, Observing, Recording and Report Writing
- The Court Process
