After 15 years of delivering the Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) national initiative, earlier this year our team at Emerging Minds received the exciting news that the Australian Government had funded us to lead the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health.
This innovative project sees our remit widen significantly to include several key areas of child vulnerability and represents a hugely positive step for infant and children’s social and emotional wellbeing in Australia.
We have partnered with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), the Australian National University (ANU), the Parenting Research Centre (PRC), and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to deliver the new initiative and it’s launching this November.
What is the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health?
Mental Health is an integral part of overall health for children just as it is with adults. Many vulnerabilities can impact on children’s social and emotional wellbeing and without intervention these can lead to mental health difficulties. Prevention and early intervention are vital elements in both improving infant’s and children’s mental health, and helping prevent future development of mental illness as they journey into adolescence and adulthood.
Whether you are a professional working with children aged 0 – 12 years, with adults who are parents/carers, and/or with families, you have a crucial role to play in strengthening infant and child emotional and social wellbeing and recognising when a child may be at risk of developing mental health difficulties.
The National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health has been designed specifically to support clinical and non-clinical professionals in this process.
Through the National Workforce Centre, professionals will have free access to:
- a national web hub providing innovative online training, implementation and practice support tools and information, webinars, events and the latest evidence and news about infant and child mental health.
- regional support where local leaders in child, parent and family mental health can become part of a network of infant and child mental health champions. Local champions will be supported by the Centre’s regional workforce consultants to facilitate local training, practice support and implementation strategies in clinical and non-clinical services.
- and, underpinning the activities of the National Workforce Centre is an evaluation strategy designed to monitor, evaluate and support continuous improvement in the delivery of the project.