Emerging Minds Podcast

How do you create a family environment for young people in residential out-of-home care? Service Manager, Paula May, talks us through her experience of setting up and managing a therapeutic youth residential care program in South Australia called 'Jo's'. She explains how the program was designed, drawing heavily on recommendations from the report of the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission in SA, and how it works to support young people to shift from trauma to transformation.

Creating a sense of family in residential care (05:14)

Using a self-organising approach to support the youth work team (09:40)

The importance of staff being able to engage in normal parental responses (12:38)

Five stages of the therapeutic framework (20:34)

Jo's Therapeutic Youth Residential Care (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qppfc4ZdeVo&feature=youtu.be

What is it like to work in one of the country's main services providing care to trans and gender diverse children and adolescents?

Paediatrician, Dr Michelle Telfer, is the Head of Department of Adolescent Medicine at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne and Director of the RCH Gender Service. In addition to improving medical and mental health services for the transgender population, Michelle played a major role in successfully advocating for legal reform, with transgender young people now able to access hormone and surgical treatment without the need for approval by the Family Court of Australia.

Michelle shares her experience leading the Gender Service at the RCH, why she loves the work, and how practitioners can best support trans and gender diverse children and their families.

 

How numbers of children seeking help are changing and why this might be (4:40)

How the Gender Service at RCH works (7:01)

The importance of language to the issue of gender diversity (10:13)

What child-focused and parent-sensitive practice looks like in the Gender Service (21:00)

How practitioners can best support trans or gender diverse children and their parents (30:25)

The RCH Gender Service website

Australian Professional Association for Trans Health website

Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines: For trans and gender diverse children and adolescents

More from Emerging Minds:

Supporting trans and gender diverse children and their families

Creating a welcoming and safe organisation for trans and gender diverse children and their families: A checklist for allied health services

Supporting trans or gender diverse children and their families with gender affirmation: A guide for GPs and paediatricians

 

Visit https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/podcast/working-with-trans-and-gender-diverse-children/ for all links and further information.

A conversation about the influence of technology in children's lives, the impact of screen use on their health, and ways of working with families to manage screen time.

Mentalising is the act of trying to think about what's happening in people's minds in order to make sense of their actions. In this episode, host Dom Kleinig talks to Perth-based psychologist, Dr Matthew Ruggiero about mentalising and mentalisation-based therapy (MBT).  Dom and Matt talk about the skill of mentalising; its importance in human relationships; and how its development can strengthen parent-child relationships in situations where they are under strain.

Dr Matt Ruggiero is a Counselling Psychologist in Perth, Australia. He runs MBT for individuals and groups at Lifespan Psychology Centre, with a focus on treating both adolescents with emerging personality disorder and parents/children engaging with Child Protection services. He is lead consultant for the implementation of MBT as a model of practice at the Perth Children’s Hospital Mental Health Inpatient unit as well as teaching and conducting research into developmental psychology at Curtin University.

What is mentalising and how is it different to things like empathy? (01:52)

Marked mirroring as a building block for developing secure parent-infant relationships (06:13)

The importance of self-determination in the therapeutic process (14:08)

How to look beyond behaviour to see what's going on underneath (24:36)

What are the impacts of gambling and how does it affect parents and children's mental health? Host Dan Moss speaks with Monya Murch, a psychotherapist who works for the Gambling Help Service at Relationships Australia in Adelaide. Monya has specialist training in addiction, trauma-informed practice, and perinatal mental health, which she brings to her work in supporting families affected by gambling. In this episode we explore how to build trust and use a strengths-based perspective when working with parents facing this issue, and ways to support parenting to further improve outcomes for children.

A definition of gambling harm (02:04)

What leads people to engage in problematic gambling (04:08)

Role of stigma and shame in working with parents who gamble (12:55)

What child-focused, parent-sensitive practice looks like in gambling services (15:28)

In this episode, host Sophie Guy sits down with Gill Munro, social worker and workforce development officer at Emerging Minds to discuss child-focused practice in the AOD (alcohol and other drugs) sector. Before joining Emerging Minds, Gill managed a large specialist drug and alcohol service in South Australia. She draws on this experience as well as her recent involvement in developing a suite of e-learning resources, describing the importance of understanding trauma and how stigma and shame can prevent parents from engaging in services.

In this episode you will learn:

How using a trauma-informed approach is important for responding helpfully to challenging behaviour (03:00)

What child-focused practice looks like in the AOD sector (07:48)

The challenge of strengthening parent-child relationships when shame and stigma are present (13:16)

What policy changes could increase child-focused practice to support child mental health (25:29)

Promising practice in the AOD sector (27:50)

 

Further information and resources:

The Impact of Parental Substance Use on the Child e-learning course: https://emergingminds.com.au/online-course/the-impact-of-parental-substance-use-on-the-child-foundation/

Parental Substance Use and Child-Aware Practice e-learning course: https://emergingminds.com.au/online-course/parental-substance-use-and-child-aware-practice-principles-and-practices/

In this episode, host Sophie Guy sits down with Gill Munro, social worker and workforce development officer at Emerging Minds to discuss child-focused practice in the AOD (alcohol and other drugs) sector. Before joining Emerging Minds, Gill managed a large specialist drug and alcohol service in South Australia. She draws on this experience as well as her recent involvement in developing a suite of e-learning resources, describing the importance of understanding trauma and how stigma and shame can prevent parents from engaging in services.

How using a trauma-informed approach is important for responding helpfully to challenging behaviour (03:00)

What child-focused practice looks like in the AOD sector (07:48)

The challenge of strengthening parent-child relationships when shame and stigma are present (13:16)

What policy changes could increase child-focused practice to support child mental health (25:29)

Promising practice in the AOD sector (27:50)

 

The Impact of Parental Substance Use on the Child e-learning course: https://emergingminds.com.au/online-course/the-impact-of-parental-substance-use-on-the-child-foundation/

Parental Substance Use and Child-Aware Practice e-learning course: https://emergingminds.com.au/online-course/parental-substance-use-and-child-aware-practice-principles-and-practices/

In today’s episode, Emerging Minds’ Workforce Development Manager, Dan Moss speaks with the Executive General Manager of Policy and Programs at Relationships Australia South Australia, Jonathon Main. They discuss some of the implementation drivers at RASA that promote child-focused practice in services which mainly work with adults. Jonathon shares his insights on how screening, assessment, practice policy, recruitment and supervision all have a role to play in ensuring that children’s social and emotional wellbeing is at the forefront of all adult-focused service delivery.

Jonathon has over 30 years’ experience in the provision of services to children and families with complex needs. He has held both clinical and management roles in the health, welfare and non-government sectors. The major focus of his work has been in provision of services that promote the healthy development of children, young people and families, and in community engagement programs that promote social inclusion and participation.

 

In this episode you will learn: 

Important aspects of attracting and supporting staff through clear understandings of child-focused practice (2:47)

How specific screening for children can help practitioners to have conversations with parents about their concerns for children (9:55)

An understanding of the importance of asking parents direct questions about the wellbeing of their children (11:54)

How to support staff to ask parents questions about their children without reinforcing stigma (15:35)

 

Further information and resources:

Six ways to support child-focused practice in adult services

In today’s episode, Emerging Minds' Workforce Development Manager, Dan Moss speaks with the Executive General Manager of Policy and Programs at Relationships Australia South Australia, Jonathon Main. They discuss some of the implementation drivers at RASA that promote child-focused practice in services which mainly work with adults. Jonathon shares his insights on how screening, assessment, practice policy, recruitment and supervision all have a role to play in ensuring that children’s social and emotional wellbeing is at the forefront of all adult-focused service delivery.

Jonathon has over 30 years’ experience in the provision of services to children and families with complex needs. He has held both clinical and management roles in the health, welfare and non-government sectors. The major focus of his work has been in provision of services that promote the healthy development of children, young people and families, and in community engagement programs that promote social inclusion and participation.

 

Important aspects of attracting and supporting staff through clear understandings of child-focused practice (2:47)

How specific screening for children can help practitioners to have conversations with parents about their concerns for children (9:55)

An understanding of the importance of asking parents direct questions about the wellbeing of their children (11:54)

How to support staff to ask parents questions about their children without reinforcing stigma (15:35)

 

Six ways to support child-focused practice in adult services

In this episode, host Sophie Guy speaks with Dr Sara McLean about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Dr Sara McLean is a registered psychologist and researcher. She has conducted extensive work to identify the role and impact of developmental differences and FASD in children in out-of-home care.

 

In this episode you will learn: 

Prevalence of FASD and the reason for its increase in recent years (06:10)

How is FASD diagnosed? (12:28)

What does effective therapeutic intervention look like for children with FASD? (18:33)

What is helpful for practitioners to know about working with children with FASD? (25:46)

Further information and resources:

What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)?: https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/what-is-fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-fasd

Understanding the impacts of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on child mental health

How to support children living with FASD

How to support caregivers and families living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

Systems and service supports for children and families living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

NOFASD

FASD HUB

 

 

Visit https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/podcast/fasd-podcast/ for all links and further information.