Building the capacity of family day care educators to engage in mental health promotion, encouraging children to flourish. Presented by Hunter Institute of Mental Health Projects Coordinator, Ellen Newman.
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1. www.himh.org.au/connections
Building the capacity of
family day care educators to
engage in mental health
promotion, encouraging
children to flourish.Ellen Newman
Project Coordinator
Hunter Institute of Mental Health
2. www.himh.org.au/connections
Hunter Institute of Mental
Health
• The Hunter Institute of Mental Health is a leading
national organisation dedicated to reducing mental
illness and suicide and improving wellbeing for all
Australians.
• For more than 20 years we have been delivering
successful, evidence-based mental health and suicide
prevention programs from our base in Newcastle, NSW.
4. www.himh.org.au/connections
Background to
Connections
• A practical resource for early childhood educators
about children’s mental health and wellbeing.
• Connections is for educators who care for children
from birth to eight years.
• Covers a range of settings: LDC, FDC, OSHC and
preschool.
• Funded by the Australian Government Department of
Education.
6. www.himh.org.au/connections
How to use Connections
• Connections has 3 main components:
– Key Concepts
– 5 Areas of Practice
– Fact Sheets
• Connections can be used in many ways:
– Read as a whole
– Explored in sections
– Used as a reference point
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Put your hand up if in your current role you are
promoting Social and emotional wellbeing
(SEW)
Keep your hand up if you can
think of 5 ways you are doing this
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Put you hand up if in your current role you are
promoting Mental Health (MH)
Keep your hand up if you can
think of 5 ways you are doing this
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Results of poll are you promoting:
• Social and emotional wellbeing (SEW)?
• Mental health (MH)?
Was there a difference in your response to these
two questions? ...Why?
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Mental health literacy
101
Mental health Mental illness / disorder (e.g. anxiety, depression)
Mental health Mental health problem (not clinically significant)
Mental illness and mental health problems Mental ill-health
Mental health Social and emotional wellbeing
Mental health Positive, capacity (like physical health)
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What is mental health in
EC
• A positive capacity
• Thoughts, feelings, behaviour
• Not to be confused with mental illness
• Changes over time
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Emerging Questions
• What are the capacities that children need in order to
flourish?
• What sorts of experiences promote the development of
these capacities?
• What sorts of biological and/or social factors can
undermine these experiences?
• To what extent can such deficits or constrictions can be
mitigated and the child returned to a healthier
developmental trajectory?
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• Human brain constructed through an ongoing
process, beginning before birth
• Brains are built by billions of connections
between neurons across different parts of the
brain
• Interactions between genes and experience
shape the developing brain
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The Developing Brain
• The first years of life are a crucial time for the
development of brain circuits.
• Impact of experiences on brain development is
greatest during these years—for better or for
worse.
• It is easier to form strong brain circuits during the
early years than it is to intervene or "fix" them
later.
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Research Summary
1. Getting things right the first time is easier and more effective than
trying to fix them later.
2. Early childhood matters because experiences early in life can have a
lasting impact on later learning, behaviour, and health.
3. Highly specialised interventions are needed as early as possible for
children experiencing toxic stress.
4. Early life experiences have lifelong effects on adult physical and
mental health.
5. All of society benefits from investments in early childhood
programs.
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Mental Illness and
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Mental Illness – impacts on thoughts, feelings,
behaviour
– Diagnosed condition
– 45% of the population will experience at some stage
in their life
• ND disorder – difference in the way brain
develops
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• Common childhood examples:
– Anxiety and related disorders
– Depression and related disorders
– Autism spectrum disorders
– Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Can be ongoing, or occur in single/series of episodes
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Mental illness in children
and young people
• 14% of children and young people (4-17 years)
experience mental illness.
• Highest prevalence of mental illness is in
young people 12-17 years.
• Depression and anxiety are the most common
forms of mental illness in young people.
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Anxiety
• Everyone experiences stress and anxiousness at
times – in moderation this can be beneficial
• Anxiety experienced in anxiety disorders differs from
normal response:
– More prolonged
– Not subsiding when prompting event/threat passes
– Occurring out of the blue without a particular reason
– Can impair relationships, schooling and everyday functioning
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Identifying Anxiety
• Observe behaviours over period of time
• Discuss with colleagues and parents
• Keep in context of child’s overall development
• Withdrawn, adverse to change, upsets easily,
prolonged stress, worry and anxiousness, physical
symptoms
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One-on-One Strategies
• Internalising
– Allow them space to observe rather than participate
– Reassure they can come back to activities
– Physical and verbal reassurance
• Externalising
– Choices instead of demands
– Dislike the action
– Reward positive behaviour
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Discussing with Families
When Their Child Needs
Additional support
• Having difficult conversations with families is
challenging but important.
• Identify a child’s difficulties and discuss
support options to achieve the best outcomes
for the child.
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Summary
• Mental health literacy 101
• Social and emotional wellbeing
• Brain development
• Social and emotional development
• Mental illness and mental health difficulties
• Strategies for educators
The early years matter because, in the first few years of life, 700 new neural connections are formed every second. Neural connections are formed through the interaction of genes and a baby’s environment and experiences,
We know that early experiences and the environments in which children develop in their earliest years can have lasting impact on later success in school and life. Barriers to children’s educational achievement start early, and continue to grow without intervention.
We know Early experiences actually get into the body, with lifelong effects—not just on cognitive and emotional development, but on long term physical health as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VNNsN9IJkws
+ second video
As the maturing brain becomes more specialized to assume more complex functions, it is less capable of reorganizing and adapting.
The brain has the most plasticity, (capacity for change) during this time = period of both great opportunity and vulnerability.
What supports positive social and emotional development, and brain development
Individual: physical health problems, genetic factors, difficult temperament or insecure attachment
Family: drug and alcohol dependence, parents/siblings with a mental illness, family conflict, death of a pet, divorce
Community: the environment where the child lives e.g. poverty, discrimination, crime or violence
Role of educators
Educators may not be able to control the risk factors in a child’s life, but they can work to increase protective factors:
Monitor risk and protective factors
Create a safe and inclusive environment
Communicate clearly and openly with families & children
Provide reassurance, be supportive and accepting
Offer warm and consistent care
Protective factors
Enhance resilience even with the presence of risk factors, and support positive development:
Nurturing and secure relationships with adults
Positive temperament
Good communication & problem solving skills
Identify emotions and manage & express them appropriately
Positive and supportive friendships
Key social and emotional development skills for young people:
Recognise, identify and understand their own feelings;
Manage their feelings and behaviour (e.g. when angry)
Develop a sense of self, agency and independence;
Recognise, identify and understand the feelings of others;
Get along with and interact positively with others;
Respond appropriately to the feelings and behaviour of others;
Develop empathy, sharing and a desire to help.
Key Skills for educators
Building relationships
Guiding values, emotions and behaviour
Promote positive sense of self
Promoting autonomy
When a child has a mental illness or neurodevelopmental disorder they may need additional support at certain times to reach their best possible level of wellbeing.
They may also need particular guidance to help them manage their feelings and social interactions.
Remember!!! Educators are not expected to diagnose mental illness or NDD.
However you may work in partnership with families and health professionals during the diagnoses process and have an important role in supporting the child and their family.
One of the most common mental illnesses amongst children and young people is anxiety.
Anxiety and stress can be positive – eg preparing for something new, a test, but it can also be a mental illness for some.