Parental mental health and families: e-learning course
Published: 2011 | Free to use | Learning Management System compatible
These e-learning resources are freely available to all. They provide audio, video and interactive technology to assist in exploring the nature of parental mental health and its impact on families.
This e-learning course has not been updated since October 2011. It may not reflect current policy but still provides valuable practice guidance.
Course modules
To study this course you must register or login
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Module 1: Introducing the family model Open
An introduction to the family model and the impacts of some common risks, stressors and protective factors.
The overall aim of this module is to introduce the family model and identify how some of the common risks and stressors can prevent the needs of family members being met and conversely how the presence of protective factors and appropriate resources can influence positive outcomes.
Specifically this module aims to help you:
- Explore how our current organisational structures can work to the disadvantage of families affected by parental mental ill health and what changes might be beneficial
- Understand the impact of inequality on individuals and family members.
Sections of this module
- the Family model
- organisational context
- The Impact of Inequalities
- Risk, stressors and protective factors
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Module 2: Think child, think parent and think family Open
Explores the impact of parental mental illness on all family members. Also looks at child development stages and some common diagnoses, interventions and treatments for mental illness.
In this module you will:
- consider the experiences of all family members where a parent has a mental health problem
- review and develop your understanding of the ways social inequalities and discrimination can affect families where a parent has a mental health problem
- review different models of understanding mental illness and hear about some of the more common diagnoses, interventions and treatments
- explore child development and the parenting tasks needed at different stages of a child's development
- think about how families with a range of needs may experience the different health and social care organisations.
Sections of this module
- Stigma, discrimination and inequalities
- Parents and mental health
- Parenting and mental health
- Understanding child development
- Conclusion
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Module 3: Working together with parents Open
Explores the key principles of working in partnership with parents.
The overall aim of this module is to explore the key elements of partnership working. It will set out the principles that best support partnership working with parents experiencing mental health difficulties.
This module links closely with the next module which will develop some of these concepts and apply them to working effectively with colleagues.
Specifically this module aims to help you:
- identify the key principles of working in partnership with parents
- consider how to use these principles, in the context of identifying and supporting families affected by parental mental health difficulties, to access and use support
- understand that a 'Think child, think parent, think family' approach should be used by all professionals - there should be no 'wrong door' to services
- consider how to use the family model to help balance the needs of the parent with those of the child when making complex decisions about child care.
Sections of this module
- Partnership with parents
- Early intervention and access
- Exploring parenting issues
- Dealing with complexity
- Conclusion
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Module 4: Working together with professionals Open
Explores the challenges facing workers in maintaining a multi-agency approach and how the Family Model can be used to strengthen professional working relationships.
This module will explore the benefits of multi-agency working with families who are affected by parental mental health problems. Specifically, this module aims to help you to:
- utilise the Family Model to strengthen professional working relationships
- consider how the 'Team around the child' process (referred to here as 'Team around the family'), can be used to reinforce a 'Think family' approach
- explore the challenges facing workers in maintaining a multi-agency approach and how the Family Model can be used to address these
- understand the importance of meetings as a vehicle for multi-agency working and reflect on elements of successful meetings so as to further a 'Think family' approach
- consider strategies to resolve differences in situations where agencies do not agree on the best response.
Sections of this module
- Partnership with professionals
- Multi-agency working
- The Family Model and assessment
- Professional relationships
- Resolving professional conflicts
- Conclusion
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Module 5: Care planning and review Open
Looks at what makes an effective plan as well as considering how reviewing processes can be used to ensure changing needs are assessed and plans modified as a result.
This module aims to help you to:
- identify what makes a plan effective
- explore ways that practitioners can work together to coordinate plans
- learn about the different types, and purpose, of plans made in children's services and adult services
- use the Family Model to help to formulate plans that address family need
- identify how the priorities for children and parents can be made central to their plans
- consider how reviewing processes can be used to ensure changing needs are assessed and plans modified as a result, using a case study.
Sections of this module
- Planning and review process
- Coordinating plans
- The legislative and policy frameworks
- Family centred plans
- Reviewing and altering plans
- Conclusion
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Module 6: Interventions Open
Explores screening, active signposting and early intervention, and their importance in addressing the needs of all parts of the family system.
In this module you will:
- identify the outcomes parents and children want for themselves and how these can be made central to planned supports and interventions
- use the 'Think child, think parent, think family' approach and the Family Model to help to identify interventions that address the needs of all parts of the family system
- explore screening, active signposting and early intervention, and their importance as points of intervention during the care pathway.
Sections of this module
- What do families want?
- Screening and active signposting
- Early intervention and social inclusion
- Conclusion
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Module 7: Managing complexity and leading practice Open
Provides a range of audit tools for frontline managers to gauge the readiness of their staff to implement the ‘Think family’ guidance. It also identifies the key drivers needed by strategic managers to target action at a local level, identify the barriers to change and potential solutions.
Sections of this module
- Issues facing managers
- Team audits
- Strategic management
- Conclusion
Learning aims: Sections One and Two
To provide frontline managers from children's and adult mental health services, managers responsible for quality assurance, training and professional development with opportunities to:
- access the resources available for themselves and their staff in SCIE's Parental mental health and child welfare suite of resources
- consolidate their knowledge of key messages from the SCIE 'Think child, think parent, think family' guidance and the Family Model as the conceptual framework used in all of the SCIE resources to understand parental mental health and child welfare work
- explore the complexities involved in collaborative work with families affected by parental mental ill health
- identify the skills needed to provide leadership to staff groups working with families affected by parental mental illness
- consider a range of audit tools available for use by team/service managers to gauge the readiness of their staff to implement the 'Think family' guidance and action plan within their team/service to ensure effective implementation.
Learning aims: Section Three
To provide service and strategic managers from children's and adult mental health services with opportunities to:
- identify the key drivers for organisations to adopt a 'Think child, think parent, think family' approach
- identify the relevant population and the services currently available to support them
- consider ways to target action at a local level and identify the barriers to change and potential solutions
- consider how to lead the necessary cultural change
- consider the workforce development needs of staff within your area.
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Module 8: Communicating with families Open
Explores the communication strategies that can be used to talk to parents, children and families about parental mental health issues.
The aim of this module is to promote greater confidence in communicating with family members about issues of parental mental health and child welfare by:
- highlighting the importance of communicating sensitively and effectively with all family members
- providing opportunities for the reader to reflect on their existing communication skills and identify areas for improvement
- exploring the barriers and enablers to maintaining good communication in parental mental health and child welfare work as identified by parents, children and staff
- providing practice examples and communication strategies that can be used to talk to parents about their mental health; to children about their parents' mental health and what that means for them; and to help family members talk to each other.
Sections of this module
- Communicating with families
- Communicating with parents
- Communicating with children
- Helping parents talk to their children
- Conclusion
Course details
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Who they are suitable for Open
This e-learning resource is targeted at frontline and management staff involved in adult mental health and children’s services. These resources might also be useful for primary care services staff (GPs, health visitors, midwives), schools – teachers and support staff and children’s centre staff.
The e-learning resource can be integrated into the higher education social work curriculum either as directed or self directed study.
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Terms of useOpen
All material in these resources, including text, graphics, photographs, video and audio is copyright of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), unless otherwise stated. Use of these resources, and import of the resources into Learning Management Systems for educational purposes is freely permitted, but commercial use of any of SCIE’s learning resources is not authorised unless permission is first obtained in writing.
Please note these courses are provided free of charge on an ‘as seen’ basis. Although SCIE’s courses have been used over many years with almost no reported problems, SCIE cannot provide technical support for their implementation or to investigate or fix any reported technical problems, nor does it warrant that they are fully compliant with all or any technical platform.
Any known issue with an individual course is noted on the opening page of that course.
These course was developed using a technology called Adobe Flash, which is not compatible with any Apple/Android platform, and may not work on any mobile device.
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Learning Management System compatibleOpen
This course is fully SCORM compliant. That means they can be loaded into a Learning Management System (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), such as WebCT, Blackboard or Moodle, and accessed locally.
Please note that this course was not designed to export any scores or track progress throughout the resource. Therefore, this course can be freely accessed by users, but there will be no tracking or grading functionality.
To obtain the SCORM-compliant version of this course, please contact us.