Parental substance use and child-focused practice

In this episode, host Sophie Guy sits down with Gill Munro, social worker and workforce development officer at Emerging Minds to discuss child-focused practice in the AOD (alcohol and other drugs) sector. Before joining Emerging Minds, Gill managed a large specialist drug and alcohol service in South Australia. She draws on this experience as well as her recent involvement in developing a suite of e-learning resources, describing the importance of understanding trauma and how stigma and shame can prevent parents from engaging in services.

In this episode you will learn:

• How using a trauma-informed approach is important for responding helpfully to challenging behaviour (03:00)
• What child-focused practice looks like in the AOD sector (07:48)
• The challenge of strengthening parent-child relationships when shame and stigma are present (13:16)
• What policy changes could increase child-focused practice to support child mental health (25:29)
• Promising practice in the AOD sector (27:50)

Further information and resources:

• The Impact of Parental Substance Use on the Child e-learning course: https://emergingminds.frmdv.com/online-course/the-impact-of-parental-substance-use-on-the-child-foundation/
• Parental Substance Use and Child-Aware Practice e-learning course: https://emergingminds.frmdv.com/online-course/parental-substance-use-and-child-aware-practice-principles-and-practices/