Practice strategies for working with children learning pathway
Emerging Minds, Australia, February 2023
Resource Summary
This suite of courses examines practice skills and strategies that help support collaborative engagements with children and their families.
It is designed for practitioners who work with children and their families to implement mental health interventions. This includes accredited mental health professionals, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians, mental health social workers, mental health nurses, mental health speech therapists and mental health occupational therapists.
The following video introduces you to the Practice strategies for working with children learning pathway.
Practice strategies for assessment and engagement
This course aims to promote the use of daily functional assessment, to help you consider a ‘whole child’ approach to your work. Functional assessments prioritise a focus on every aspect of the child’s life, including their hopes and their goals, rather than focusing solely on their problems or conditions. A ‘whole child’ approach recognises there are certain circumstances in a child’s life that influence the presentation and severity of any mental health difficulties, accuracy of assessments, and strength of treatment outcomes.
Practice strategies for formulation
This course is designed for practitioners who work with children and who draw on case formulation processes to inform their practice. As you progress through this course, you will reflect upon the elements of your own case formulation practices and develop your skills in:
- strengthening the current case formulation practices that reflect your interest in children’s participation
- identifying further opportunities for engaging children in case formulation; and
- drawing on a range of strategies for facilitating children’s participation in case formulation.
Practice strategies for implementation
In this course, you’ll consider practice skills that support children’s participation in mental health interventions. As you progress through this course, you will reflect upon the elements of your own practice and further develop your skills in:
- facilitating children’s participation when implementing and reviewing interventions to support their mental health and wellbeing; and
- drawing on a range of strategies in the implementation phase.
