The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health is a truly multi-disciplinary membership organisation focused on bridging the gap between rigorous research and best practice relating.
‘… for access to the best evidence, and the feeling of being part of a bigger mental health world, then I would always recommend that people join ACAMH’
Dr Max Davie, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Martin Pratt, CEO of ACAMH, explained; “We comprise a unique membership of people working across an array of child and adolescent mental health domains. Historically our members are academics, clinical practitioners and researchers. These people work across an array of child and adolescent mental health domains.”
Martin continued; “However, over the last 12 months, with the rise in prominence of child mental health issues, we are seeing a surge of new members from a wide range of professions whose day to day activities involves working with young people. These include; teachers, social workers, mental health nurses, providers of children’s services, GPs, NHS commissioners, paediatricians and host more.”
“We are keen to attract people who want to concentrate their careers working with children and are offer an array of free resources, together with exclusive member content and opportunities, to encourage best practice throughout the field.”
‘ a powerful group to collect together the wisdom of clinicians, teachers, the speech therapists, and of course the researchers’
Professor Uta Frith, DBE (Hon), FRS, FBA, FMedSci
Sharing is Caring
ACAMH holds a body of knowledge and acts as an information hub for sharing best practice to benefit all of those who work with children. Stacey Kelly-Maher, Digital Executive explained more; “Across our digital platforms we regularly post and share blogs, interviews and podcasts about the latest research and hot topics. This isn’t just for members as we want to engage with as many relevant contacts as possible so that we can help them help others.”
Stacey continued; “By highlighting key developments in research and pointing people to resources such as our free CAMH topic guides, on subjects such as depression and anxiety, we aim to bridge the gap between best practice and rigorous research. So follow us on twitter @acamh and @TheJCPP which is the handle for The Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology”
“excellent practice and article”
M Burton
“Thank you for the wonderful resources on the website, plan to use lots in teaching new module”
@MindMeMindYouIE
More events and more access
ACAMH are running 60 events in 2018 to support the professional development of all those working to support the mental health of children and young people. These include conferences, training events, special interest groups and masterclasses throughout the year on topical issues, as well as providing access to a library of engaging on-line CPD topics delivered by national experts.
Gabriella Comet, Events and CPD Manager told us; “We appreciate that it may be difficult for some teachers to attend our events if they are run during term time. That is why we are trying to make our CPD events as accessible as possible. More events than ever are being recorded, both on audio and on film, so people can access them at a time that suits them. This year we are live streaming more events than ever allowing you to access the event and reduce the outlay.”
“Fantastic ACAMH talk on Compassion Focussed Therapy ”
Dr H
Together we can Make Children Better
ACAMH is a registered charity that reinvests any surplus generated into developing its outputs for the benefit of the sector and its members. Matthew Kempen, Marketing Manager spoke to us about this; “Everyone is feeling the pressure on budgets, none more so than the teaching or healthcare sector. By keeping our membership prices low, entry level is just £35 a year, and competitively pricing our events we aim to grow our membership base with a loyal following. We all have the common aim of trying to #HelpingYouHelpOthers, and by offering certain resources as free and open access we can do this.”
