Family Engagement And Retention By Families With Children With Mental Health

Kemp, S. P., Marcenko, M. O., Lyons, S. J., & Kruzich, J. M. (2014). Strength-based practice and parental engagement in child welfare services: An empirical examination. Children and Youth Services Review, 47, 27-35.

Family is also another common strength that can also be a separate individual’s weakness. There is convincing evidence that suggests adolescent depression is largely linked with family environment. This is due to factors such as abuse, neglect, abandonment, mental illness within the household, family conflict, stress and breakdown. As the initial stages of an adolescent’s development is continuously spent with the family, family are therefore the largest factor in defining the individual’s mental health. Although family may be the greatest risk factor, family may also be the most influential strength and protecting factor of adolescent mental health. Families with close relationships provide; increased trustworthiness and openness, feelings of worth and belonging, support, and acceptance. These contrasting statements reaffirm that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and therefore needs different and individualised care from the nurse (Power, Allan & Robinson,

Children’s mental illness affects approximately one fifth of youth worldwide, and although it is the children who experience symptoms directly, implications associated with mental illness can impact entire families (Richardson, Cobham, McDermott & Murray, 2013). As such, healthcare systems are being redesigned to include a focus on family-centeredness. In the case of children’s mental health specifically, family-centered coordinated care represents an understanding of treatment, not only derived from the child’s experience, but also from the parents’ and caregivers’ perspectives (Olin, Hemmelgarn, Madenwald, & Hoagwood, 2015). Unlike other interventions in children’s mental health, this treatment approach acknowledges the vital role that families play in promoting the health and wellbeing of children, and it serves to empower family members by including them in treatment practices and decision-making processes (McGinty, Worthington, & Dennison, 2008; Olin et al., 2015). Through this collaborative approach to children’s mental health, partnerships can be established among health care providers, patients, and families, who each contribute to continued stabilization (Johnson, 2000; McGinty et al., 2008). Moreover, family-centered coordinated care serves to link children and adolescents with appropriate treatment interventions, while correspondingly introducing families to resources that foster parental

158-159). “In reviewing the literature, the focus was on identifying the impact of parental mental health, the associated risks, the difficulties with the interface working, and proposed solutions” (Duffy et al., 2010, p. 159). Some of concerns expressed for the program to be effective were how mental health and child care services work together, communication between the two, role clarity, and the outcome hoped to be achieved by the development of this program was to provide holistic interventions which could not be provided by just one agency, earlier intervention which was more effective, to decrease staff stress, and to obtain a better outcome for the families involved (Duffy et al.,

Being the child of a parent who has a mental illness involves considerable risk to the child’s secure attachment and long-term mental health. Parental mental health concerns place children at a significantly greater risk of lower social, psychological and physical health than children in families not affected by mental illness. (Mayberry et al, 2005).

The article “Child and Adolescent Depression in the Family” examined the positive effects that family therapy can have on a child suffering from depression. The research found that all the studies involving a family focused treatment was effective at decreasing youth depression. I think that this would be especially important for the

Some recent evidence of the effectiveness of family-therapy came from data from randomized controlled trials (RCT’s), published in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. One specific program called the Stress-Busters program proved especially effective. “Stress-Busters is a school-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)-based family education intervention that combines teaching cognitive behavioral, skill-building strategies for youth, sharing those skills with parents, and having one family education session to promote a more positive family environment” ( Kaslow, et al., 2012). After receiving this intervention, fourth through sixth graders had higher satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms, negative thoughts, and poor coping responses than those in the wait-list control group (Kaslow, et al., 2012).

Parental engagement has been a challenge for child protection workers. When a family is going through issues like violence or substance abuse it is hard to focus on the children. Not having connection or communication with children can

In order to provide services to children and families involved with the child welfare system, FGDM’s need to come from a family centered and a strengths based approach. When families are given the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths and they are recognized, respected, affirmed they are more willing to make take initiative towards change and use those strengths as their foundation. Family focused services are focused in working with families in order to improve their level of functioning. The entire family needs to be addressed in order to provide a safe, stable, supportive, and a permanent environment for the child (Department of Social Services, n.d). When using the strength based approach with individuals seeking mental health services it has been found to increase self-esteem, self-efficacy, personal confidence, sense of hope and life satisfaction (Tse, et al., 2016).

Family is of great importance to having a functional or dysfunctional development; it will help or impede the child to have a support system in place.

As stated by Hornberger, Smith (2011) “Whatever the level of family functioning, the problem behaviors have affected all family members. If the therapeutic goals are sustainable outcomes that improve health and well-being, then the family, which may or may not be part of the problem, must be part of the solution.” I believe it is important for

The process of individual therapeutic treatment will often result in heavy invocation of intimate personal relationships, formative experiences and conflict management. These characteristics would ultimately lead to the evolution of family systems therapy, a mode of treatment which recognizes the inherency that familial patterns and inter-relations possess where counseling and treatment are concerned. The school of though revolving around the family systems ideology would naturally blossom into a wide variance of strategic schools of thought, differing practically and philosophically but all share the common ground of emphasizing the impact of family on the presence of complex and the role that family must play in treatment thereof. It is thus that the discussion here offers a concise assessment of some major offshoot models such as the Bowen Theory, the Cognitive Behavioral Model, Attachment-Focused Family Therapy and Individual Therapy. Each of these is channeled through a family systems lens, with the traits distinguishing them from one another considered in further detail here below.

Inpatient Family Services (IFS) will offer families with inpatient members, assistance, resources and support for navigating the inpatient mental health system. Family members who contact IFS will receive assistance with general information and questions regarding our services, and other resources which pertain to the inpatient mental health system. The information provided may include, but is not limited to, the following: information on hospitals and IMD facilities, questions regarding courses offered by IFS and outside resources, information on transportation to facilities, and information on support groups. The IFS staff member may conduct a family needs assessment to help the family determine their specific

The assessment can be re-administering at different points throughout the therapeutic relationship to monitor the effectiveness of individual and family interventions, can be used as an outcome measure in treatment effectiveness research, as well as a process measure in the areas of family interaction, adolescent development, and theoretical research (enter citation & additional reference including

My intervention will be to change the view of clients and families of multi-systemic therapy to a more positive one. I will be working with everyone in the family conducting an assessment to “understand the “fit” between the identified problems and their broader systemic context” (The Nine Principles of MST Family Counseling, n.d.). I have noticed a common theme among the majority of them, a lack of motivation and investment in this court ordered therapy process and referrals from schools, Family in need of services, Department of Child and Family Service, Longleaf Behavioral Hospital, Brentwood Hospital, and Eckerd. The 21st century focus of Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) is to implement Evidence Based Practices (EBP) in Mental Health. “EBP refers to approaches and interventions that have been scientifically tested in controlled studies and proven effective. EBP implies that there is a definable outcome(s)” (Evidence-Based Practice, 2015). EBP is to be used as a method for getting the entire family to shift gears and focus from a negative stance, to a positive one in this process.