Joy Ladurner speaks at ‘9th Excellence in Paediatrics Conference 2017″ in Vienna
EUFAMI was invited to speak at the Excellence in Paediatrics Conference, taking place between 7 -9 December 2017 in Vienna. The topic of the presentation was Adolescent mental health: Supporting young people with caregiving responsibilities and their families. EUFAMI decided to join forces with HPE (Hilfe für Angehörige Psychisch Erkrankter), the Austrian family organization, as several programmes for adolescents with parents with a mental illness exist which were presented as national good-practice-examples (Verrueckte Kindheit and JoJo). The presentation itself addressed the following learning objectives:
- Understanding the importance of parental mental ill health as a risk factor for adolescent mental ill health.
- Reviewing existing support and prevention programmes for young people, including practice examples from Austria,
- Discussing what professionals (paediatricians, GPs, nurses) can do to “detect” and support adolescents with a parent with a mental illness. The presentation was very well received, the discussion thereafter lively, personal and engaging. Major conclusions of the discussion were that awareness for children needs (still) to be increased, that it is best to start early (during pregnancy), but never too late to do anything. A supportive social environment is crucial, as well as the reduction of stigma and other barriers to accessing services and looking for help. An audience member mentioned the Austrian programme frühe Hilfen, which supports families during pregnancy and after birth aiming to promote resources and reduce burden. Several discussants furthermore stated that they (had) learnt a lot about adolescent (mental) health from being a parent. Receiving comprehensive information about the HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children) survey completed the session.
You can read more about the conference HERE
Text by Joy Ladurner.
