Later this year the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health (NWCCMH) will launch an online course and practice support tool specifically for General Practitioners. The new resources focus on assisting GPs to have preventive conversations with adult patients who are experiencing long term mental health conditions and family adversity regarding their child’s social and emotional wellbeing.
The resources build upon previous consultation with lived experience experts and are being developed together with GPs. Earlier this month the Centre held a one-day workshop with participants from across Australia to consider the opportunities to identify and support children’s social and emotional wellbeing in general practice.
The workshop was successful in establishing working partnerships with passionate GPs advocating for vulnerable families and children’s mental health.
The project is being led by Workforce Development Officers, Caroline Williamson and Therese Foster.
“The day was extremely informative with participants sharing their wisdom about issues that impact on GP’s opportunities to identify and support vulnerable families around child mental health, and identifying resources and training needs that would support this practice,” says Caroline.
“The participants also shared their experiences around how they have engaged in conversations with parents around the impact of adult issues on child’s social and emotional wellbeing, recognising that engagement and understanding of family’s circumstances takes time and follow-up by the GP is crucial.”
The Centre would like thank all GPs who participated. The conversations on the day will inform the development of the preventive plan that will assist GPs to identify and plan supports with parents to promote child resilience and prevent the emergence of mental health difficulties.