Emerging Minds Podcast

How might children’s social and emotional wellbeing be affected by the changes brought about in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? In this bonus episode, Brad Morgan, Director of Emerging Minds, discusses some challenges that might be coming up for families at this time as they navigate spending more time at home together. Tune in to this discussion to hear about what infants, toddlers, and children are needing from their parents right now and some suggestions on how parents can have child-centred conversations about coronavirus that are supportive of their mental health as well as what’s important to consider in relation to maintaining routines during home isolation. 

Why talking to children about the coronavirus pandemic is important (03:49)

What support babies and toddlers are needing (10:16)

What to consider in terms of the way parents’ mental health may be impacting on the wellbeing of their children (18:08)

What to consider in maintaining routines under isolation (22:00)

How news and media might be impacting children (23:14)

Video: Talking to children about natural disasters, traumatic events, or worries about the future

Factsheet: Communicating with your child about COVID-19

Factsheet: Helping children cope with stress during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Factsheet: Traumatic events, the media and your child

Guide and tools: Coronavirus (COVID-19): family guide – raisingchildren.net.au 

Factsheet: How to talk to your children about coronavirus (COVID-19)

Website: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – healthdirect.gov.au

Podcast: The power of play

This episode provides an insight into what culturally competent practice with children and families looks like from the perspective of Mthobeli Ncganga, a practitioner who works with families from migrant and refugee communities with experiences of torture and trauma.

What does the evolving nature of sexual and gender identities mean for working with families? Tune into this episode with Dr Priscilla Dunk-West to explore this question and learn about shifts you can make in your practice and organisation to become more inclusive of rainbow families.

Priscilla is a sociologist and social worker and has worked in academia in both Australia and England. She practiced social work firstly in child protection and later went on to specialise in sexual health counselling. Her research interests include identity, sexuality, intimate relationships and parenting. She has produced five books and her bestselling text 'How to be a Social Worker: A Critical Guide for Students' has been translated into Swedish and is now in its second edition.

In this episode you will learn:

The social and cultural context of sexuality (02:47)

Asking questions to understand family configuration rather than making assumptions (07:43)

What child-focused and parent-sensitive practice looks like (12:44)

What services can do to promote inclusivity with rainbow families (23:32)

How do you create a sense of hope for children and families who are in the midst great hardship? Social worker and child and family therapist, Angel Yuen, has spent much of her career in Toronto, Canada, working alongside children, young people, and adults who have been subjected to abuse, violence, and oppression. She has taught narrative ideas in several countries for over a decade and is the author of various papers as well as the book 'Pathways beyond despair: re-authoring lives of young people through narrative therapy'.

In this episode, we discuss her particular interest in working with children to co-discover and seek out hopeful and effective ways of responding to trauma and hardship.

In this episode you will learn:

Identifying children’s skills about how they get through tough times (05:20)

Creating a context of hope with families (10:07)

Paying attention to children's language (14:32)

Working in a way that supports children’s agency (18:27)

What principles and practices keep children's needs at the centre when working with families where there is violence? In this episode, Prof Sarah Wendt interviews Dr Carmela Bastian, both from Flinders University, about child-centred practice in situations of family and domestic violence. Carmela draws on her twenty plus years of experience as a practitioner and academic in the fields of child protection and human services to illuminate approaches that can help to navigate this complex space.

 

 

Learning 1: Bringing conversations back to the impact on the child (03:34)

Learning 2: How to create safe spaces for children to talk (07:25)

Learning 3: Assessing parent-child relationship quality (13:00)

Learning 4: How to discuss safety without instilling a sense of blame (15:40)

Learning 5: Barriers to practicing in a child-centred way (28:54)

 

The Impact of FDV on the Child: An Introduction

Engaging fathers who use violence podcast

Child-focused social work practice in the context of family and domestic violence: Understanding the impact of male violence

Keeping children visible in practice responses to family and domestic violence

How are children from refugee backgrounds faring in terms of their social and emotional wellbeing? Tune into this conversation with Dr Sonia Terhaag to find out what the Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants can tell us about this. Sonia has worked in research for more than ten years in Canada and Australia and currently works on various national longitudinal research studies at the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

What the BNLA study can tell us about social and emotional wellbeing in refugee children (6:07)

Experience of trauma in refugee families (07:56)

Impact of parent experiences on children’s mental health (10:11)

Implications of study findings for practitioners (17:00)

 

Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants

https://aifs.gov.au/projects/building-new-life-australia

Adjustment of refugee children and adolescents in Australia: outcomes from wave three of the Building a New Life in Australia study

Cohort Profile: Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA): the longitudinal study of humanitarian migrants

What can the body's signals tell us about how to respond to trauma? In this conversation with psychologist, Chris Cussen, we draw on polyvagal theory to understand how the nervous system is affected by trauma and what is supportive when working with children who have abuse-related trauma histories. Chris draws on her many years of experience working with the Australian Childhood Foundation to give a rich description of how a neurobiological perspective informs her practice.

In this episode you will learn:

How to explain polyvagal concepts to a child (05:28)

What the body needs to move through a mobilised state (08:54)

The importance of facial expressions and tone of voice for social engagement (11:49)

Practices to support a child in a mobilised state (20:43)

Further information and resources:

Australian Childhood Foundation Discussion Paper 18: Polyvagal Theory and its implications for traumatised students:   https://professionals.childhood.org.au/app/uploads/2018/08/SMART-Discussion-Paper-18.pdf

Stephen Porges' website: https://www.stephenporges.com/articles

This is a re-released episode from our Community Trauma Toolkit podcast series.

In this episode we talk to Michelle Roberts, a psychologist and expert in the areas of child and adolescent trauma, loss and grief, and children's disaster recovery. She has decades of experience as an educator and psychologist supporting school communities, and discusses with us the ongoing psychosocial needs of children following a disaster or community trauma and how schools and families can work together to help prioritise and support children's needs.

Why it is important to consider the needs of children after a disaster (00:43)

How children experience trauma differently to adults (2:14)

The main impacts of disaster on children (03:58)

The impacts of trauma on parenting and how to support parents (07:46)

Trauma sensitive behaviour management

How educators can support children in the short term following a disaster or community trauma

Community Trauma Toolkit

This is a re-released episode from our Community Trauma Toolkit podcast series.

In this episode, we talk to Kate Brady, a Churchill Fellow and National Recovery Advisor at Australian Red Cross, about what happens in a community during and after a traumatic event. She discusses the difference between natural disasters and community traumas, what communities might experience, and how families, communities, and first responders can all respond to and support children in their recovery.

What characterises a community trauma (01:05)

What families and communities might experience (11:18)

How to support families and children in affected communities (15:30)

A guide for first responders: Supporting children immediately following a disaster

Community Trauma Toolkit

This is a re-released episode from our Community Trauma Toolkit podcast series.

In this episode we talk to Dr. Briony Towers, a research fellow in the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University, about the benefits of involving children in disaster preparedness, as well as some of the myths and misconceptions that children hold about disasters and bushfires in particular.

The importance of bushfire planning (2:20)

The survive and thrive program for primary schools (10:39)

Children's involvement in their own preparedness (18:27)

How Educators can prepare their students for a natural disaster

How parents and caregivers can prepare for a natural disaster

Community Trauma Toolkit