Homelessness and child mental health
This podcast explores the topic of homelessness and its impacts on children and families – in particular, how it affects child mental health. Most importantly, it provides workable strategies and skills for improving support to families experiencing homelessness.
In this episode, we talk with Susie Lukis and Kirren O’Brien, Coordinators for the Statewide Children’s Resource Program in Victoria. The Statewide Children’s Resource Program (SCRP) advocates for and assists practitioners in homelessness support and other non-government services to respond more effectively to the needs of children who have experienced homelessness and/or family violence.
This episode is full of strategies that services can adopt to better support children and families experiencing homelessness. It outlines practical skills that practitioners can use in their work with children and their caregivers who are experiencing homelessness. It also looks at how families become homeless in the first place, and what impact issues such as COVID-19, cost of living rises, natural disasters and housing affordability have had on Australian families.
In this episode you will learn:
- the different pathways to homelessness and how societal issues impact on children and families (4:09)
- how infant and child mental health is impacted when family and domestic violence drives families into homelessness (10:38)
- the importance of early intervention and other strategies to help services better support the child mental health in the context of homelessness (16:48)
- practical skills for engaging and supporting the mental health of children experiencing homelessness and the parent-child relationship (23:14)
Further information and resources:
Website: Statewide Children’s Resource Program
Website: Statewide Childrens Resource Program – resources for practitioners
Webinar: Families and homelessness: Supporting parents and improving outcomes for children
Fact sheet: Practitioner’s guide: Money, housing and health
Fact sheet: For service workers: Collaboration and care between families and providers
Fact sheet: Myths and misunderstandings about family homelessness
Online course: Intergenerational mental health
Online course: The impact of trauma on the child
Online course: Supporting children who have experienced trauma
Podcast: Breaking the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage
In focus article: What are adverse childhood experiences ACEs)?