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| Supporting kids living with a parent with mental illness
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Resources for early childhood
Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) is a national initiative which aims to promote better mental health outcomes for children living in families where parents suffer from mental illness.
Figures show that more than a million Australian children live in homes where at least one parent has a mental illness and the range of factors associated with living in these environments can have a negative impact on a child's development and wellbeing.
COPMI works to improve the outcomes for these children by developing information and resources for parents, community members, children, school and early childhood settings to support families where one or more parents has a mental illness.
Son of a father with mental illness
COPMI says this information is designed to promote better mental health outcomes for children, reduce stigma associated with parental mental illness and help friends, family and people who work with children in a variety of settings identify and respond to the needs of children living with a parent with mental illness.
The resource list below was developed under the guidance of researchers and service providers working in the mental health field along with people who have experienced living in a family where parental mental illness was a factor.
Resources for early childhood workers to support young children living with a parent with mental illness:
Enhance your skills and understanding
eLearning courses
- 'Keeping families and children in mind' - An introductory course for mental health and allied health professionals. It supports learners to understand the impact of parental mental illness on the entire family and to recognise the benefits of a family-sensitive approach to working with parents experiencing mental illness.
- 'Supporting infants and toddlers of parents with mental illness' - For adult mental health professionals working with parents of young children where the parent has a mental illness.
- 'Child Aware practice' - Covers a range of activities designed to ensure that children of parents with mental illness get appropriate support from services that are working with their parents and carers.
- 'Child Aware supervision' - For supervisors of front-line staff in adult-focused health and social services, to support staff to develop 'Child Aware' practice.
Other resources
- KidsMatter Early Childhood website - Comprehensive information for early childhood education and care settings about promoting children's mental health, social and emotional learning, working with families and supporting children with mental health difficulties.
- Helping to piece the puzzle together - Useful suggestions for workers in the early childhood area who are supporting children and families where a parent has a mental illness. Download online or order a hard copy or order a hard copy with free postage (within Australia).
- Zero To Three - Tips on nurturing a child's social-emotional development.
- Early Head Start - What does Infant Mental Health (IMH) mean? And, how do EHS programs implement quality IMH services? Tip Sheet No. 22.
- Response Ability - Social and emotional learning factsheet.
- Grief and Loss - A useful article on how children grieve and understand grief and loss.
- Calmer classrooms - A guide to working with traumatised children that assists kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers, and other school staff to understand and work with children and young people whose lives have been affected by trauma. Calmer Classrooms particularly addresses the needs of children who have been traumatised by abuse and neglect.
- KidsMatter's free online training - Connecting with families: Conversations that make a difference supports early childhood educators and teachers in their work with families.
- Dealing with a crisis - An article instructing on crisis: how children react and how to help them.
- Reducing Maternal Depression and Its Impact on Young Children; Toward a Responsive Early Childhood Policy Framework - (Policy) - Read the report: (2008) J Knitzer, S Theberge, K Johnson. National Centre for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, New York. Defining depression through a parenting lens.
- Browse free COPMI materials - Delivery is free within Australia.
- The COPMI resource collection – Comprehensive resources on COPMI-related topics.
See Gateway to Evidence that Matters (GEMS) research summaries of recent Australian and international research relating to children (aged 0-18 years) of parents with a mental illness, their parents and families.
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