Primer

  • Innocent,Girl,In,Bedroom,Having,Sleeplessness,Night

    Catching some zzz’s – Sleep, Sleep Hygiene, and Wellbeing

    This World Sleep Day (15 March) we encourage you to explore the learning opportunities available on our website and learn more about the importance of sleep health in children and young people. Help us to raise awareness of sleep health through sharing with your networks and colleagues.

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  • Dr. Emma Francis

    Let’s Talk About the Need to Invest in Women Researchers and Leaders

    Every International Women’s Day, there is a call to retain talented women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, with strategies and proposals often given by influential organisations such as the United Nations. These proposals aim to steer improvement in workplace cultures and environments, and champion equity in the opportunities available to women across fields. The theme of this year’s United Nations International Women’s Day is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress.” This blog discusses the leaky STEM pipeline with a focus on why we need to invest in women researchers, and sharing my own experiences as a woman pursing mental health research.

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  • Zoe R. Smith

    Inclusion and Advocacy for Women with ADHD: Addressing Inequities and Challenging Diagnostic Bias on International Women’s Day

    March 8th, 2024 is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is “Inspire Inclusion.” Unfortunately, women who hold multiple intersecting identities that are systemically oppressed world-wide are often excluded from discussions. One example includes women who are neurodiverse, and more specifically for this post, women with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Women and non-binary folks are often excluded from appropriate diagnosis of ADHD due to bias in providers, boy/men-dominated symptoms in the DSM-5 (Barkley, 2023; Hinshaw et al., 2021), socialization to mask and internalize symptoms, and sexism and other forms of discrimination. As with most discrimination, this is even worse for women with ADHD who also hold other systemically oppressed identities. This blog will focus on how to increase equity for women with ADHD with concrete solutions for multiples systems that affect them.

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  • ACEs boy

    ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences

    Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are defined as situations that lead to an elevated risk of children and young people experiencing damaging impacts on their health and other social outcomes across the life course.

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  • Teen on green background

    Addiction & Substance Use

    Irrespective of the age group it is just as important to be aware of what we don’t know as what we can be more confident about. This is particularly true of young people and drug use, as most research investigating prevention and interventions has tended to focus on adult populations.

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  • Guest Blog

    What is attachment theory used for?

    Attachment theory is amongst the most popular theories of child development and has received much attention from psychologists and researchers across the world for the last 50 years. Such popularity implies that it is perceived by many to be of great importance and utility to understanding people and their behaviour in different contexts – but, why?

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  • What is an intellectual disability?

    This alphabetical framework is designed as an aide memoire for the identification of an ID (in children, young people or adults). It will help you identify available information sources and gaps in knowledge about an individual’s ability. It will guide you in decision making regarding a likely diagnosis and help you generate a needs based plan.

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  • young boy in super hero costume

    ASD – Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. People on the autism spectrum may have difficulties with social communication, social interaction and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, activities or interests.

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  • ADHD teen

    ADHD – Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder

    ADHD is a behavioural disorder with three key aspects, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

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  • Couple holding baby

    Attachment

    The disposition of an infant or young child to identify and interact with the person or small set of persons considered most likely to provide them with care and protection is known as attachment.

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