For this session we are delighted to welcome Professor Mina Fazel to share some of the latest insights into the prevalence of common mental health conditions in children & young people, highlighting some of the underlying risk factors and overlaying the impact of the pandemic. Mina will also be answering your questions in a session facilitated by leading education professional Professor Barry Carpenter.
Mina is a highly respected Professor of Adolescent Psychiatry at University of Oxford; her research focuses on how to improve access to mental health interventions for children and adolescents. She has a particular interest in school-based mental health interventions and has been running the Oxwell School Survey since 2019, which aims to better understand what school pupils need and want.
About the ‘Ask the Expert’ sessions
This FREE ‘Ask the Expert’ online event is exclusively for Teachers, and offers insights into the latest evidence-base around mental health prevalence in children & adolescents. They are brought to you as part of an exciting new partnership between The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) and Coram Life Education (CLE), two charities who are dedicated to making a difference to the mental wellbeing of children and young people.
We are trialling these sessions events in order to help close the knowledge gap in a range of topics that now form part of the statutory Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, we think it is important to help equip teachers with knowledge in areas that may be less familiar to them, which is grounded in academic rigour.
These trial ‘Ask the Expert’ sessions are primarily aimed at knowledge building, we will be working on other initiatives to help evolve pedagogical approaches based on the evidence we share with you at the trial events, with more details to follow.
About the event
The trends in children & young people’s mental health are concerning, with 1 in 6 young people having a probable mental health disorder, evidently there were significant challenges that existed pre-pandemic, which have been heightened over the last two years.
Schools play an integral role in supporting children & young people’s mental health, as an anchor institution in society they can identify, refer and support those at risk, whilst creating positive environments that encourage all children to learn and thrive.
As teachers, it is important to understand some of the shifts in the presentation of some of the common mental health conditions, in order to be able to look for the cues and clues that children and young people may present and to understand how they may be able to better support them at school.
Key Takeaways
- Find out what the latest data tells us about the prevalence of common mental health conditions in children & young people, highlighting possible recent changes
- Build knowledge around some of the key themes and risks driving the prevalence of common mental health conditions
- Provide an overview of how to better support children and young people with mental health difficulties
Booking
Sign up to this free event at this link or on the Book Now button at the top of the screen and complete the form that follows. You’ll then receive an email confirmation and a link to the webinar, plus we’ll send you a calendar reminder nearer the time. ACAMH Members attending will be eligible for an electronic CPD certificate. Non-members can opt to receive an electronic CPD certificate for just £5, simply select this option at point of booking.
Resources
Podcasts
The Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 School Closures
Associate Professor Mina Fazel ‘Child refugee mental health needs’ – In Conversation
Filmed sessions
COVID & the impact on Mental Health of School Closures – CAMHS around the Campfire recording
Open Access papers
COVID-19 partial school closures and mental health problems: A cross-sectional survey of 11,000 adolescents to determine those most at risk by Karen L. Mansfield, Danielle Newby, Emma Soneson, Nemanja Vaci, Christoph Jindra, Galit Geulayov, John Gallacher, & Mina Fazel
How did the mental health symptoms of children and adolescents change over early lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK? by Polly Waite, Samantha Pearcey, Adrienne Shum, Jasmine A. L. Raw, Praveetha Patalay, & Cathy Creswell
About the Speakers
Mina Fazel is a Professor of Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist in the Department of Children’s Psychological Medicine at the Oxford Children’s Hospital. She has been working for two decades on how to improve mental health services for vulnerable and hard to reach populations which has led to an interest in school-based mental health services. She has worked with local CAMHS services to change how they interface with education. She also conducts the OxWell Student Survey which in 2021 had responses from over 30,000 students from 180 schools, guiding our understanding of what school-aged students say they want and need. Her other main interest is in improving access to evidence-based trauma therapies, especially for young people suffering from PTSD, having worked with refugee populations for many years. In her clinical work, she is part of a team helping children and young people with chronic health difficulties and pain.
Professor Barry Carpenter has been appointed to the ACAMH Board with special responsibility for disseminating our work to schools, teachers, and others involved in the education of children and young people. Barry is the UK’s first Chair of Mental Health in Education, at Oxford Brookes University
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Barry has held the leadership positions of Headteacher, Principal, Academic Director, Chief Executive, Inspector of Schools and Director of the Centre for Special Education at Westminster College, Oxford. In 2009, he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Education as Director of the Children with Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Research Project. Since completing that research, Barry has overseen the development of a national project developing online ‘Training materials for teachers of children with severe, profound and complex learning disabilities’ www.complexneeds.org.uk
Full bio on ACAMH Board page.
Coram Life Education is the leading provider of relationships, health, wellbeing, and drugs education to almost half a million children across the UK, delivered under the strapline ‘Helping Children Make Healthy Choices’. Trained Educators use evidence-based, interactive, creative methods and resources to stimulate curiosity and imagination amongst children in 1 in 10 English and Scottish primary schools (2,041 schools).
Our memorable life skills sessions are currently delivered as ‘Life Base’ in school or as ‘SCARF Live Online‘ sessions via Zoom. Coram Life Education takes a three strand approach addressing children’s knowledge, skills and attitudes, and programmes are aligned with the National Curriculum (Citizenship, PSHE Education), covering all Key Stages. Coram Life Education helps schools meet their statutory requirements for Relationships and Health Education, children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development, and Ofsted inspection criteria for personal development, behaviour and welfare. Coram Life Education’s programmes are also aligned with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence. Recognising the role of the community and home life in influencing children’s choices, we design our programme with schools and deliver special sessions and assemblies for parents and carers to amplify our effectiveness.