Aims and Key Elements

In 2005, Maybery and Reupert, estimated that there were between 21% and 23% of children living in Australian households where at least one parent has a mental illness, equating to just over a million children at that time (see more Facts & Figures). Not all children of parents with a mental illness will experience difficulties as a result of their parent's ill health. However a combination of genetic inheritance and a range of factors often associated with mentally ill adults can increase risks to their children's well-being.

Background

The Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent Family Mental Health Association (AICAFMHA) has undertaken the Children Of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) national initiative with funding from the Australian Government since 2002 with the goal of ‘improving mental health outcomes of children of parents with a mental illness’.
In 2007, the COPMI component was included under the Council of Australian Governments’ New Early Intervention Services (NEIS) for Parents, Children and Young People measure. The measure aims to support mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention for all children through universal evidence-based school and early childhood programs and through targeted programs aimed at children who are at highest risk of developing mental health problems, or who have early signs, symptoms or diagnosis of mental health problems. The measure provides a framework for mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention for children from birth to 12 years.
The COPMI national initiative team will work collaboratively and cooperatively with consumers of mental health services, their family members and other carers and with other key stakeholders including other organisations funded under the NEIS measure including members of the Child Mental Health Stakeholder Forum and organisations associated with the Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) program.

Aims

From July 2010 to June 2012, the COPMI national initiative will assist in promoting better mental health outcomes for children of parents with a mental illness by:

• enhancing access to information and psycho-education for family members and carers (including children) where a parent experiences mental illness and enhancing access to information specifically for fathers;
• increasing access by primary mental health workers to skills training to enable them to provide psycho-education to families where a parent experiences depression and/or anxiety;
• providing specialist information and guidance (relating to children of parents with a mental illness) to organisations and agencies involved in the delivery of services to parents, children and to people who work with them, especially other agencies funded under the Council of Australian Governments’ NEIS for Parents, Children and Young People measure; and
• enhancing information exchange between researchers, service funders and providers regarding research and evaluation of illness prevention, mental health promotion and early intervention strategies and services for children of parents with a mental illness.
  

Key Elements

1. Enhance access to information and psycho-education for family members and carers
   a. Develop and pilot test a psycho-education DVD for families and children where a parent experiences depression and/or anxiety (with associated guidelines for primary mental health workers). The DVD will provide parents and their families with assistance to understand the illness and the value of obtaining treatment, talk with their children about the illness, improve their capacity to reflect and solve problems together and access further assistance if required.
   b. Develop and pilot test information resources designed specifically for fathers who have a mental illness or whose partners have a mental illness and/or those who work with these families. The aim of these resources will be to improve access to information to assist this often stigmatised and vulnerable group of parents to support their children’s mental health.
   c. Maintain community access to current information including the continued promotion, production and distribution of current COPMI information resources (hard copy and website); continuation of the e-discussion list and continuation of the resource listings.
   
   
2. Increase access by primary mental health workers to skills training
   a. Develop and pilot test a web-based training program, associated program materials and a manual for mental health workers to undertake brief preventive intervention with families where a parent experiences depression or anxiety. The resource will be developed with the aim of it being accredited by the General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration as a Mental Health Skills Training program.
   b. Support systems change to enable mental health workers to undertake brief preventive interventions with families where a parent experiences mental illness and provide an education context for medical officers.
   
   
3. Provide specialist information and guidance
   a. Support systems change to build the care of children of mental health service consumers into routine practice in mental health services, including primary mental health care, with the aim of every parent consumer receiving acknowledgement and support for their parenting role.
   b. Support mental health workforce development facilitators through information, advice and a support network.
   c. Provide guidance and advice regarding the involvement of parent consumers and carers, including young people, in workforce education, systems change and monitoring.
   d. Work in partnership with agencies/organisations involved in the education of teachers and early childhood workers to respond to families where a parent has a mental illness and reduce stigma relating to parenting with mental illness.
   e. Enhance integration with perinatal, infant and childhood mental health workforce development initiatives.
   f. Develop a short foundation document to review and reflect the evidence that children of parents with a mental illness in Australia are at high risk of developing mental health problems.
   g. Develop, in consultation with key stakeholders, a strategic plan for achieving better mental health outcomes for children of parents with a mental illness. This plan will guide the direction of the COPMI initiative for the current Project Period and inform planning for future work.
   
   
4. Enhance information exchange between researchers, service funders and providers
   a. Provide a clearinghouse for new relevant research and evaluation projects.
   b. Foster the development of the evidence base regarding the COPMI workforce development e-learning resource (launched in 2009) and support the publication of outcomes.
   c. Enhance linkages between researchers involved in relevant service efficacy evaluations and/or mental health promotion and illness prevention research and promote evidence to service funders and providers.
   
   
5. Implement participation, governance, and evaluation processes
   a. Create and utilise consultation groups to ensure that the DVD, e-learning training resource for primary mental health workers and resources specifically consultation with consumers, carers, key workers, academics and other key stakeholders including beyondblue.
   b. Review and implement parent consumer and carer participation strategies across all areas of the initiative.
   c. Establish governance and advice processes and structures including a national reference group of key stakeholders (including consumer and carer representatives) and a steering committee with specific expertise relevant to children of parents with a mental illness.
   d. The DVD, e-learning training resource for primary mental health workers and resources specifically for fathers will be pilot tested with a sample of ‘end-users’ from both urban and rural areas of Australia across at least two jurisdictions. Evaluation results from the pilot testing will be used to enhance the effectiveness and usability of the final products.