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This book explores children's mental health and wellbeing issues using a developmental systems perspective that is grounded on established theoretical frameworks and supported by evidence-based research. It uses Singapore as a unique example to illustrate the range of nationwide educational, clinical and social initiatives and programs, anchored on systems thinking and viewed through a systems perspective. The book covers topics including barriers to help-seeking, addressing children's mental health needs, and how to enhance mental health support for children and adolescents. It draws on examples from Singapore's education, health, family, social services and legal sectors in promoting children's mental health and wellbeing. Future directions in the field will be discussed including the importance of program evaluation, partnerships, and bringing interventions to scale. In order to fully realize the ultimate aim of sustaining a long-term positive and healthy mental state for our young, the book highlights how a well-coordinated national strategy for mental health and wellbeing can serve as a springboard for further growth to build a resilient and empathic society.An essential resource for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of school, clinical and counselling psychology, counselling, social work, education and related disciplines, this book will also interest clinicians or practitioners.

Depression is a recurrent, debilitating and sometimes fatal disorder that may first effect children between the ages of 9 and 12. Preadolescent depression is an important public health concern because it is a'gateway'condition that increases the risk for recurrent depression into adolescence and adulthood, particularly when there is a strong family history of mood disorders. The preadolescent period presents a window of opportunity for early psychosocial intervention for depressive disorders and for decreasing risk factors associated with recurrence, namely difficulties in relationships with family members and friends. Addressing and treating depressive disorders in preadolescents has the potential to be extremely successful given the dramatic increase in rates of depression that occur in adolescence. Family-Based Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Preadolescents is a psychosocial intervention that aims to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms among preadolescents and to provide them with skills to improve interpersonal relationships. Parents are systematically involved in all stages of the preteen's treatment to provide support and model positive communication and problem solving skills. The Initial Phase of treatment addresses psychoeducation about preadolescent depression, challenges in parenting a depressed preadolescent, and appropriate expectations for their child's behavior and performance at this time. The Middle Phase of treatment outlines ways for clinicians to present FB-IPT skills to both the preteen and parent. The Termination Phase focuses on consolidating skills, addressing prevention strategies, and identifying when to seek treatment for recurrent depression.

This book examines the long term impact of service reform in children's mental health, focusing on comprehensive state and local initiatives to improve care for children with serious behavioral health and their families to illustrate how programmatic and contextual forces influence policy and practice in this area, and inform readers about strategies employed by policy makers, administrators and advocates to develop and sustain effective systems of care. This book looks at Virginia's effort to reform care for at-risk youth, as well as the transformational initiatives of six states and several localities. Using a comprehensive ecological framework, the authors focus on a statewide transformation of services for children/youth with serious emotional and behavioral challenges to enhance understanding of the course and consequences of system change efforts over an extended period of time. Attention is given to the impact of this reform on individual children and families, and local communities as well as the Commonwealth. Using data from states'and localities'efforts to develop comprehensive systems of care for children and families, this book enhances understanding of the dynamics of large-scale human service reform efforts. It describes how political, economic, social, cultural, and technological forces have shaped policy and practice, offer lessons learned from these ambitious reform initiatives, and provide guidance for those interested in improving care for vulnerable children and their families.This book examines the long-term impact of reform legislation, employing a multi-modal approach to enrich understanding of this ambitious reform effort. Examples are provided to illustrate how CSA and other systems of care have impacted individual children and families as well as the interplay of local community dynamics and macro level policy and political processes. This book also offers the first-hand perspectives of individual consumers and families, child advocates, community based program providers, and local and state wide administrators and policymakers. By combining these multiple perspectives the authors provide a comprehensive perspective on the issues of child mental health services and related reform efforts.

This clear and accessible guideówritten by social workers for social workersódescribes the most current developments in neuroscience and their practical applications for social work in education, child welfare, health, mental health, and criminal justice settings. The contributions of social work experts in these key areas of practice make this vast and ever-expanding body of neuroscientific knowledge easily understandable, with specific relevance to understanding the impact of the environment on neural mechanisms and human life course trajectories. The text examines how neuroimaging can be used to examine psychosocial treatment efficacy, discusses cross-system programmatic and policy implications that respond to the way in which toxic environments and early disrupted attachment affect brain and behavior, and addresses the importance of bioethics to inform the integration of neuroscience into social work practice.This is the only text on this topic with chapters organized around five practice settings and embedded with application skills across micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Each chapter includes an overview of the latest scientific research pertaining to the topic and discusses implications for assessment, prevention, intervention, policy, research, and ethics. Real-world case studies in each chapter enhance practice applications.Key Features:Describes the latest applications of neuroscience across social work settings in education, child welfare, health, mental health, and criminal justiceExamines latest neuroscientific research for each topic and its implications for assessment, prevention, intervention, policy issues, research, and ethical/legal issuesDraws clear practical implications in each chapterWritten by social workers for social workersIncludes the contributions of noted social work researchers, faculty, and practitioners

Practical solutions for difficult clinical situations!With many chapters written by some of the field's best known contributors, this handbook was developed for the practitioner who wants practical and effective guidance for helping abused children. Each major area of clinical practice is discussed by experienced professionals, providing you with new insights and ideas regarding: medical findings; clinical assessment; individual, group, and family therapy; testifying in court; the role of medication in treatment, and much more. To make the application from the written page to your practice even more compelling, every clinical chapter is followed by a patient vignette that demonstrates how the principles just described can be successfully applied in the working world of therapists. Whether abused children number only a few or many on your caseload, this is a handbook to which you will often refer over the years. The Handbook for the Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children pulls together a wide range of practical information for therapists on how to effectively work with abused and neglected children. Unlike other volumes on the subject, this book puts the information in context, with a'big picture'overview of how the therapist fits into the larger system into which the child has been swept upChild Protective Services, legal proceedings, medical issues, disputes regarding custody, etc. Inside, you'll find effective strategies for: conducting individual therapy with abused childrenhow to begin therapy, identify distortions, effectively challenge ingrained patterns of behavior, and constructively bring therapy to a close navigating the maze of Child Protective Servicesknowing what resources are available, what obstacles are likely to arise, and how to work with social workers understanding the medical findings of maltreated childrenhow information from a child's physician can provide critical insights into the child's experience, and often into children's expectations of future relationships testifying in court as a therapisthow the court works and how to prepare to give effective testimony facilitating parent interventionshow to help mothers and fathers develop relationships with their children to the fullest and nurture each child's potential as his or her personality develops The Handbook for the Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children will prove valuable for students and educators as well as novice and experienced therapists. Whether you see children only occasionally or focus your practice on maltreated children, this one-of-a-kind resource deserves a place in your professional collection.

Discover the effective group treatment strategies that help your school-aged clients! A child immersed in a conflicted family life may be forced to cope with a multitude of trauma, including violence, abuse, and insecurity. In A Safe Place to Grow: A Group Treatment Manual for Children in Conflicted, Violent, and Separating Homes, highly respected experts give mental health professionals the tools to provide effective group treatment for children scarred by family environments of conflict and abuse. This easy-to-understand, step-by-step manual is a developmentally appropriate treatment curriculum for traumatized school-aged children. Age-appropriate sections separate therapy for big or little kids, focusing on efficacy while presenting a comfortable multi-ethnic, multi-cultural model.A Safe Place to Grow has easy-to-understand descriptions of techniques, with each session in the curriculum containing games and activities that are therapeutic yet flexible enough to be modified whenever the situation warrants. A chapter is included to helpfully troubleshoot problems encountered when in session with either age group of children. Useful illustrations accompany the text, along with a comprehensive bibliography listing additional therapeutic resources for different types of family problems. Appendixes are included for instruction on psycho-educational groups for parents that enhance their sensitivity to their children's needs, as well as providing an evaluation study of the group model itself.A Safe Place to Grow provides a sequence of activities within the group model aimed at each of these five goals: creating common ground and safety exploring the language and complexity of feeling defining and understanding the self defining and revising roles and relationships restoring a moral order A Safe Place to Grow is an essential resource for social workers, psychologists, family and child therapists, school counselors, and battered women and children's advocates.

'I heartily recommend Sibling Development.'--CFLE Network Newsletter (National Council on Family Relations)Sibling relationships have a major influence on a person's development and behavior, yet, until now the topic has been seriously underrepresented in the professional literature. Sibling Development: Implications for Mental Health Practitioners addresses this gap by examining the range of developmental, clinical, and cultural issues related to sibling relationships. It highlights positive sibling relationships as a source of strength and resilience; at the other end of the spectrum, it addresses sibling abuse, a dangerous and underdiagnosed condition. It demonstrates the crucial support that siblings can provide each other in families experiencing mental illness, substance abuse, divorce, and other stressors. It also considers issues of cultural and ethnic diversity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation as they relate to siblings and their families. Each chapter provides case studies to illustrate how theory and empirical findings can be incorporated into culturally informed treatment, and offers implications for practice and future research. It is an essential resource for all practitioners, researchers, students, and educators who work with or study siblings. Key Features:Examines the role of siblings as cultural educators and socializing agentsOffers empirically derived treatment approaches for siblings and familiesDiscusses lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender siblingsIncludes case studies to demonstrate how to integrate theory and empirical findings into practiceLooks at sibling dynamics in families with mental illness, substance abuse, and divorce, as well as siblings of individuals with disabilitiesDiscusses sibling relationships in transracial adoptive families

Addressing questions about the cultural specificity of childhood, the complementary value of psychological, biological and social understandings of children, and the impact of policy and law on how children are dealt with and perceived, this will be a core text for many courses related to childhood studies.