Improving mental health services for vulnerable refugee children

The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) is staging a Refugee Children and Mental Health Masterclass on Thursday 17 May, delivered by Professor Panos Vostanis from our School of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour.

The day will benefit all those working within child refugee services, or those who have a strong interest in the topic of child refugee mental health, both in clinical and non-clinical roles.

Professor Panos Vostanis is one of the country’s leading scholars on the topic of child refugee mental health. Panos is Professor of Child Mental Health and has published extensively on the impact of trauma on child mental health, evaluation of interventions and services for traumatized children, including those living in conflict settings.

There is increasing attention on the complex needs of refugee children with most agencies and practitioners regularly coming across them in their generic capacity. Despite this demand for psychosocial support and mental health interventions there is still relatively limited knowledge on how practice skills can best be adapted, which interventions are effective and culturally appropriate, and how agencies can improve mental health outcomes.

Professor Vostanis said of the day: “In response to the increasing interest in improving mental health services for vulnerable refugee children and youth, this workshop will consider the latest evidence, as well as strategies to enhance engagement, improve assessment, plan interventions and develop services in an inter-agency context. The aim of the day is to enable discussions to develop around the different stages of the CAMHS journey for refugees and giving the attendees an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in other sectors.”

Yasmine Hennessy-Williams, Events Executive said: “ACAMH are delighted to have been able to secure Professor Vostanis services to facilitate this Refugee Masterclass. By attending you will be able to; link to policy and evidence, consider engagement and assessment strategies, develop interventions in relation to your role, and improve joint working.”