CYP MH Early Intervention Training Programme
This training programme equips infant, children, and young people’s intervention staff to address a wide range of emotional, social, wellbeing and mental health challenges. The expert-led sessions will be delivered via short, bite-sized sessions, both in-person and online and will be supported by a range of supplementary learning resources.
Why is this training so important?
This programme recognises that a gap exists between specialist CAMH services (which handle complex and entrenched mental health issues) and those working with children with mental health difficulties who don’t meet CAMH’s thresholds. These professionals – who are not mental health experts themselves – often feel ill-equipped in this area.
The sessions will improve understanding of various challenges to the mental health of infants, children and young people, covering:
- What infants, children and young people need to thrive emotionally, socially and academically
- How to support parents when their children face emotional, social or learning difficulties, recognising that parents require understanding and sensitive, attuned, empathetic support in order to meet their child’s needs
- A range of common health challenges and how to best attend to
those challenges using evidence informed ways
A summary of the sessions provided below.
To secure a place on these trainings, please complete our CYP MH Early Intervention Booking Form
This session addresses the vital question “what do children need to flourish and develop vital social and emotional resources that support resilience, emotional wellbeing and mental health?” Therefore, this session will cover:
- recent developments in neuroscience, which further our understanding of infancy and early child development and the key components of healthy development
- emotional and social development during primary school years and what children need to help their development during this phase
- recent insights into adolescent development, focusing on brain changes and their impact on social and emotional growth
These sessions will be delivered in two parts. Part A will focus on working with parents of 0-11 year olds; Part B will focus on working with parents of adolescents.
These sessions will focus on how early intervention services can promote mental health and wellbeing in infants, children, and young people by helping parents understand and address their children’s emotional and social needs in healthy ways. The sessions will explore how to engage with parents, understanding struggles from their perspective, and supporting them to meet their children’s needs with sensitivity, attunement, concern, and empathy.
This session will review recent research on attachment theory and the development of attachment strategies throughout childhood and adolescence. The session will examine and explore:
- secure and insecure attachment styles, including anxious/avoidant, preoccupied/ambivalent, and disorganized strategies
- how harmful and chaotic home environments contribute to disorganized attachment
- factors that compromise trust, safety, and security, leading to insecure relationships
- compassionate and effective ways to support children and young people with various insecure attachment strategies.
This session will improve understanding of autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) in children and adolescents. It will address the challenges faced by these individuals and their families in various settings, such as education and healthcare. The session aims to raise awareness of ASC and the skills needed to support the emotional wellbeing, social relationships, and mental health of those affected.
This will be delivered via four modules each covering a common mental health presentation in childhood and adolescence. These modules will cover the latest research on the roots of these challenges and effective support strategies for professionals promoting CYP’s mental health and early intervention services for children, young people, and their families.
The modules will be:
- Anxiety (including emotion-based school avoidance)
- Eating Problems (including ARFID)
- Self-Harm
- Impact of Adversity and Trauma on Mental Health and Wellbeing
The strong connection between poor sleep and compromised mental health is well established. Healthy sleep patterns are increasingly recognized as vital for emotional, social, and mental wellbeing, as well as for concentration and learning. Many children and young people suffer from inadequate sleep, affecting their overall health. This session, delivered by Hunrosa, will explain the science behind healthy sleep and offer guidance on establishing good sleep habits for CYP and their families, led by national experts.