A presentation given by Prof. Phil Robinson at The Journey, CHA Conference 2012, in the 'Innovations in Mental Health Care for Children and Young People' stream.

1. COPMI
national initiative
Phil Robinson

2. COPMI national initiative
AIM:
To promote better mental
health outcomes for children
of parents with a mental illness.

3. Why COPMI?
Children of parents with a mental
illness are at greater risk than their
peers of developing mental illness
themselves but ...
risk doesn’t equal destiny
... and there are many ways that the
risk can be reduced.

4. Resilience
 Its not about individuals being ‘hardy’
 Resilience changes in response to
multiple factors (such as supportive
relationships, community environments)
There is evidence for a range of ‘risk’
factors but there may be others that
haven’t been identified.

5. Studies highlight these resilience
factors
 Parent receiving treatment/support
 Child understands their parent’s mental illness
 Child can communicate with parents about
the mental illness
 Child knows they are not to
blame/responsible
 Child has access to a supportive adult
 Child participates in a range of activities
outside of the home
 Child has close friends
 Child pursues their own interests
The child has a sense of hope about the
future

6. Key statistics
Up to 1 in 5 Australian young people
live in families with a parent who has a
mental illness.
Offspring of depressed parents found to
have a 3-fold increase in depression,
anxiety and substance dependence
when compared with those whose
parents had no diagnosis.
Weissman et al 2006 (large longitudinal study over 20 years)

7. Key statistics
... (Australian) children
with a
parent who attend mental
health services are between
two to five times more likely
than the norm to be scoring in
the clinical range on the SDQ.
Maybery et al, 2009

8. Multi-component approach to prevention
for children of parents with a mental illness
Hosman & Van Doesum, Prevention Research Centre, Nijmegen
University 2000

9. Prior to the COPMI initiative
Scoping study undertaken
by AICAFMHA to
understand the general
response to calls for services
for children of parents with
a mental illness by those
such as Brain Burdekin in his
landmark report into human
rights and mental illness.
Released in 2001.

10. 2002 - 2004
 Developing and promoting
‘Principles and Actions for
Services and People
Working with Children Of
Parents with a Mental
Illness’
 Involved broad consultation
across Australia with those
with lived experience, plus
workers and administrators
and a extensive literature
review.

11. 2002 - 2004
 Developing and promoting information
resources for families and for professionals
(e.g. booklets, website, translations)

12. Past priorities 2004 - 2012
 Education of the mental health workforce
(standards, MH Pod, Keeping Families and
Children in Mind’ e-learning and group
educator training)

13. Past priorities 2004 - 2012
 Education partnerships with key
stakeholders such as MindMatters and
KidsMatter (Primary and Early Childhood)

14. Past priorities 2004 - 2012
 Supporting evidence-based practice
(e.g. GEMS and tools for evaluation of
programs and services on our
website) and research
‘clearinghouse’
 Training and mentoring
for program evaluators

15. Past priorities 2004 - 2012
 Development of information for families
where a parent experiences depression
or anxiety (DVD)
 Development and pilot testing of web-
based training (‘Family Focus’) for
primary mental health professionals
working with families where a parent
experiences depression or anxiety

16. More information for parents

17. Information for fathers

18. Information Sheets

19. Mouse mat Wallet cards

20. Child Quote
“When dad wasn’t well, it would’ve
been most beneficial for our family
if he’d been able to stay
connected to us, not just be taken
away and not have any contact.”

21. Helping to embed good practice
 Regular meetings with Mental Health
Department nominees from states
and territories
 Work with non-government mental
health bodies
 Collaborations with others working in
the education field and/or child and
family mental health area (e.g.
KidsMatter, National Perinatal
Depression Initiative)

22. Supporting systems change
 Medical Journal of
Australia supplement
 Advocating for changes
to government funded
programs to better
support families where a
parent experiences
mental illness.

23. FaHCSIA funding 2012 (Child Aware)
Development and pilot testing of an
‘advanced’ module of ‘Keeping Families
and Children in Mind’ designed specifically
for supervisors in adult services (e.g. Drug
and alcohol, housing, domestic violence,
mental health).
In conjunction with NCETA (National Centre
for Education and Training in Addictions)
and ACCP (Australian Centre for Child
Protection).

24. 2012-2014 ... Promoting
 Family Focus DVD for families
where a parent experiences
depression and/or anxiety
 Intervention – brief (6 session)
intervention for family members
including school aged children
 E-learning – for primary mental
health care workers

25. Current focus...
E-learning for primary mental health care
workers, so they are prepared for the launch
of the DVDs in January 2013

26. 2012-2014 funding phase
 Developing additional
advanced module for
‘Keeping Families and
Children in Mind’
 Develop and pilot test an e-learning
resource (and associated materials) for
„Let‟s Talk ... about the children‟ – based
on evidence from Finland of this
approach used by secondary and tertiary
mental health practitioners.

27. 2012-2014 funding phase
•Develop and promote information
pathways within rural areas.
•Develop and pilot test ‘pathways of care’
resources which enable those working with
families where a parent is identified as
having a mental illness and children in the
0-5 year range to respond to child and
family needs and/or refer on as
appropriate.

28. 2012-2014 funding phase
 Continue provision of expert advice.
 Explore development of web-based
resources that could assist mental
health care organisations in
collaborative work with their local
health, welfare and early childhood
services.

29. 2012-2014 funding phase
Continue to build and promote the
evidence base, especially as it relates
to user-driven services for children and
families where a parent experiences
mental illness.
Maintain connections with our
international consultation group.
Continue strong involvement of
people with lived experience.

30. Who employs COPMI staff?
 Australian Infant Child Adolescent and
Family Mental Health Association Ltd

31. What is AICAFMHA’s aim?
To actively promote the mental
health and well being of infants,
children, adolescents and their
families and/or carers in Australia.

32. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
Collaborative partnership is the
keynote, between all professional
groups working in the mental health
field with the young and their families
and with relevant community
groups, carers and consumers of
mental health services from a fully
representative range of
geographic, cultural, social and
economic backgrounds.

33. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
The full range of mental health issues
affecting the young and their families
or carers are considered from
individual development, family life
cycle and community perspectives.

34. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
Partnerships in advocacy in the
public arena for effective
promotion, prevention, early
intervention, treatment and follow-
up programs in child and
adolescent mental health and that
these are pursued in a context of
human rights principles.

35. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
A broad approach to
infant, child, adolescent and family
mental health provides the basis for
wide dissemination of scientific
knowledge in this area and for
encouraging the development of
relevant qualitative and quantitative
studies of the highest research
standard.

36. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
Collaboration and consultation is
valued with other
national, international, state-based
and local organisations that
promote enhancement of mental
health, focussing upon the needs of
the young and their families.

37. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
A range of consultative processes
with young people, families and
carers is valued, processes which are
inclusive and appropriate to the age
level of the young people involved.

38. What are AICAFMHA’s values?
It is appreciated that there are
approaches to working with infants,
children, adolescents and their
families, which are fundamentally
and distinctly different from those
relevant to adult mental health
service provision.

39. contacts
77 King William Street
North Adelaide SA 5006
copmi@copmi.net.au
www.copmi.net.au
+61 [8] 8367 0888

40. Thank you ...
Australian Government
Department of Health and
Ageing