Getting to know the PERCS

PERCS Conversation Guide

The PERCS Conversation Guide is a psychosocial discussion tool that was developed based on academic evidence and consultations with practitioners and parents.

The guide includes example questions designed to help you explore five important domains in a child’s life:

• Parent-child relationship
• Emotions and behaviours
• Routines
• Communication and meaning-making
• Support networks.

The PERCS Conversation Guide aims to help professionals recognise parents’ strengths, their hopes for the family and opportunities to support their children’s mental health.

PERCS Conversation Guide: Infants and toddlers

To support parents and children as they navigate the early years of a child’s life, it is essential for practitioners to have a baseline understanding of infants and toddlers’ development and their caregiving experiences.

This version of the PERCS Conversation Guide includes example questions tailored for use with the parents of infants and toddlers.

PERCS Conversation Guide: Domestic violence and children

Family and domestic violence (FDV) can significantly affect the mental health, physical development and wellbeing of children, even when they have not directly witnessed the violence or abuse. Given the impact it can have on children, it’s important that all practitioners feel confident to talk with parents about the effects of FDV.

This version of the PERCS Conversation Guide is designed to support both specialist and non-specialist practitioners to have collaborative, respectful conversations with parents about how FDV can affect the whole family.

PERCS Conversation Guide: Working with substance-affected parents

Parental alcohol or other drug (AOD) use can affect children negatively from conception through to adulthood. But many practitioners lack confidence in talking about these impacts with parent who use substances, particularly when a parent is pregnant.

This version of the guide includes two sets of example questions – one set aimed at substance-affected parents and the other specifically for supporting pregnant clients who use substances.

PERCS Conversation Guide: Parental physical illness

Parental physical illness can have a direct impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing. Practitioners working in adult services have the opportunity to help children affected by a parent’s chronic physical illness to access preventative care and early intervention.

This version of the guide aims to support practitioners to talk with parents about the impact of physical illness on children’s lives. It utilises a preventative and proactive approach that encourages shared understanding and decision-making with parents.

PERCS Conversation Guide for primary health practitioners

Many families visit their general practitioner (GP) more than any other health professional. This puts GPs and other primary health practitioners in a unique position to support infants’ and children’s mental health through conversations with parents.

In this version of the guide, example questions have been designed to help primary health practitioners explore how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) might be affecting children.

PERCS resource for families: Five ways to support your children’s mental health

This resource for families complements your conversation about PERCS, explaining the domains as five areas of family life that parents can focus on to help nurture and protect their children’s mental health.

You might like to share this resource with parents or families you are working with.