Strong mental health is essential to children’s physical, social and emotional wellbeing. It provides a foundation for the skills needed to navigate complex experiences, participate meaningfully in life and accomplish their goals.
Most infants and children experience good mental health, particularly if their parents, family, and community are responsive to their needs. They can meet challenges, express, and regulate a range of emotions, explore their environment, and form secure relationships, all within the context of their age and developmental stage. Unfortunately, not every family has the resources they need for their children’s positive development. Providers are in a unique position to support families as they seek to raise healthy, flourishing children.
Last Saturday, 11 March, we partnered with Emerging Minds to host an interactive and dynamic workshop at Rydges Norwest: A Framework for Supporting Child Mental Health in Primary Care.
Health professionals from all over Western Sydney attended to learn how to better assist families plan for children’s social and emotional development and mental health at the earliest possible stage. 50 participants attended, of whom 24 were local GPs.
Facilitators included WentWest’s GP Clinical Director Dr Michael Fasher, Dr Michelle Crockett OAM, Ania Mazurkiewicz, Julie Ngwabi, Matthew Burn and Amanda Warren.
Dr Fasher shared, “It was great to see the interest from all members of the primary health care team. Over the day we explored the value of infant and child mental health as an asset that shapes children’s health and wellbeing immediately and for the whole of their life. Further, its impact extends across future generations. This event will have lasting impact as the collaboration between WentWest and Emerging Minds forms the platform to establish a Community of Interest in the mental health of Western Sydney’s children.”
We are constantly developing training opportunities for health care professionals in Western Sydney. Visit our Events Calendar to find an upcoming event.
Read more about WentWest’s Child and Family programs in Western Sydney on our website.
Thursday 16 March 2023