Understanding Child Mental Health and Its Association with Adverse Life Experiences

Delivered by

Christina Enright

Biography

Format options

In person | Online

Duration options

3 hrs | 4 hrs | 6 hrs (1 day) 12 hours (2 days)

Variations

This training can be adapted to a diverse range of contexts, and further bespoke elements can be added on request.

Content Summary: 

Carers and professionals may be supporting children and adolescents with a range of symptoms of poor mental health or mental health diagnoses. Therefore, it is important for them to be well informed regarding such issues.

This training is designed to give carers and professionals an overview of different psychiatric diagnoses, what they mean for the child or adolescent as well as how to support a young person diagnosed with a mental health problem.

It will also present the complexity of psychiatric diagnosis for children who have experienced developmental trauma and how to make meaning out of the child’s symptoms and behaviour rather than focusing purely on diagnosis.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training attendees will learn about:

  • The meaning of different diagnostic categories
  • The impact of trauma on mental health
  • How might we determine whether a child’s symptoms are due to developmental trauma or an organic mental health disorder?
  • The comparison between the medical model and the social model of mental health problems
  • The stigma of mental illness diagnosis – how can mental health diagnoses be helpful?
  • How our thinking about and attitudes to mental illness can impact on a child’s perception of themselves and their recovery
  • The growing research on the link between nutrition and stable mental heath
  • The link between physiological and emotional regulation problems and mental health problems
  • Ways to support a child or adolescent who have symptoms of mental health problems, whether allocated a specific diagnosis or not.

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Training delivered by

Christina Enright

RN, BSc Psychology, Dip in Family Therapy, MA Child Psychotherapy, Dip Clinical Supervision.

Over the past 17 years, Christina has worked as a psychotherapist with children, adolescents, birth parents, foster carers and adoptive parents. This followed on from 20 years working as a nurse in the NHS. Her experience includes the development of a multidisciplinary clinical service for families experiencing trauma and attachment problems who were reluctant to engage with main-stream social care and mental health services. From 2015-2017 Christina provided trauma consultancy to the clinical team developing a children’s service within the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in the UK.

She also delivers training on child development, trauma and attachment both within the NHS and other education and social care systems across the UK and Ireland.  Her special interest is in early childhood development and the impact of trauma on a child’s developing capacities, functioning and behaviour. From her experience working with children who have endured developmental trauma characterised by neglect and abuse, she has found it necessary to use a comprehensive integrated approach in order to address the multiple complexities which such children present with.

Christina returned to live in Ireland in 2016 and currently works as a Developmental Trauma and Attachment specialist providing training, assessment and clinical interventions on behalf of Tusla Child and Family Agency and in independent practice with birth and adoptive families.