Conferences

 

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Inaugural World Children of Parents with a Mental Illness
(COPMI) Conference
The inaugural World Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) Conference will be held jointly with the 6th National Child & Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Conference from 26-28 October 2009 at the Adelaide Hilton, South Australia. Hosted by the Australian Infant Child Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association (AICAFMHA), organisers say that this will be a major occasion on the Australian mental health calendar, with the conference theme, “Together” encouraging us all to look at the ways in which we work with and support children and families where mental health is an issue.

The inaugural World COPMI Conference will aim to address the support structures and resources to assist children of families where parental mental illness exists along with new workforce development strategies.
Speakers and workshops which may be of interest to Early Childhood workers include:

• William R Beardslee

Dr. William Beardslee is the Gardner-Monks Professor of Child Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and directs the Baer Prevention Initiatives at Children’s Hospital Boston. He has a longstanding interest generally in the prevention of mental illness and specifically in the prevention of depression in families. His Family Talk Intervention has been widely used in the United States and abroad as a preventive program for parents with depression and their children.

• Professor Louise Newman

Louise Newman has been appointed as Professor of Developmental Psychiatry and Director of the Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry & Psychology since March 2009. Prior to this appointment she was the Chair of Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry at the University of Newcastle and the previous Director of the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry.

• COPMI National Family Forum

A group of consumers and carers from across Australia who provide input to the COPMI initiative from the varying perspectives of parents with mental health problems and disorders, their children and other family members.

Post Conference Workshops (Full and half day on Wednesday 28 October)

• A Family of Interventions for Parental Depression [Full day]

Presenters: Dr. Tytti Solantaus and Dr. William R. Beardslee.     An overview of the main principles of the Family Talk Intervention and a session by session discussion of its use.  The presentation will be interactive with those attending the workshop, providing ideas, engaging in role play, and offering commentary about their experiences.

• Ulysses Agreements, Care Plans for Children and Living Wills [Morning Only]

Presenters: Neil Mercer, Debbie Ross, Faye Jackson, Kate Priess, Rob Lees, Ingrid Vet.      The workshop will provide participants with information from a range of perspectives about planning to enhance outcomes for children of parents who experience mental illness.

• Circle of Security and Mothers in Drug Rehabilitation [Morning Only]

Presenter: Dr. Neil W. Boris.    In this workshop , participants will understand how attachment theory and research should influence clinical assessment of high risk young children; and will appreciate how the Circle of Security protocol provides clinicians with an approach that moves from education into intensive therapy.

• Overview of Assessment and Intervention for Children Under 5 [Afternoon only]

Presenter: Dr Neil W. Boris.    This workshop will provide a selective tour of advances in the science of early childhood development as they inform clinical practice. Videotaped assessments and interventions will be highlighted.

• Supporting parents and children who have suffered Trauma [Morning only]

Presenter: Professor Louise Newman.   “Parenting with Feeling” is a parenting program which directly works with parents’ early trauma and builds reflective capacity. This workshop will review the impact of early trauma on development and look at strategies for supporting vulnerable parents.

As final details of the conference program become available, papers and symposia of special interest to Early Childhood workers will be advised. 

Full conference and workshop details are available via the conference website http://sapmea.asn.au/conventions/camh/index.html

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12th World Congress of the world association for infant mental health

Infancy in times of transition

29th June 2010 to 3rd July 2010

Leipzip Germany

More details here