[2-day Short Course] Social Work Practice: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Disorder
About the Course
Children or adolescents with mental health disorders may experience debilitating symptoms, which greatly impact their functioning, learning and social relationships. Caregiving for them poses great challenges, and even often distress, to their family members. Interacting in such overwhelming conditions typically create further distress to all parties in the family and could potentially compromise the care and support for the children or adolescents. The availability of appropriate and timely community support would thus be critical, to help sustain family members in their roles as caregivers, and to support the children and adolescents regain functioning and their relationships.
This course aims to equip community social work practitioners with relevant knowledge on screening of childhood mental health disorders, as well as effective support and interventions.
The focus is on the following disorders:
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder;
- Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder;
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder;
- Psychotic Disorder (in adolescents); and
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Evidence-based psycho-social approaches to working with children and adolescents with these disorders and their families will be discussed. The facilitators will additionally share observations and ideas based on practice with the local population.
Who Should Attend?
This course is targeted at all helping professionals:
- who work with families who have children with mental health disorders; and
- had not previously attended similar training on Child and Adolescent Mental Health by the REACH (Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health) teams.
How to Register?
MS GERALDINE WONG Geraldine obtained a Bachelors in Psychology and in 2000, she graduated with a Masters in Family Therapy. She also has a Masters of Social Work and a diploma in clinical supervision. She has a great passion for working with families, children and adolescents, especially in the area of mental health. She has over 22 years of experience as a counsellor and a medical social worker. She also provides clinical supervision to junior staff. She has given talks and provided trainings to medical, nursing and health care staff and counsellors both locally as well as overseas. Geraldine is the team leader of REACH North (Response, Early interventions and Assessment in Community mental Health), a community based mental health programme which is part of the National Mental Health Blueprint. She provides leadership to a team of multidisciplinary professionals that offers consultations and interventions to children and youth in the community in partnership with general practitioners, schools and voluntary welfare organisations. |
MS TAY SO LENG So Leng is a Family Therapist at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). She graduated with a Bachelors of Science, a Graduate Diploma in Social Work, and a Masters in Family therapy. So Leng served as a pioneer member of REACH (Response, Early interventions and Assessment in Community mental Health), a nation-wide community-based mental health programme. She provided community-based assessment and interventions to children, youths and their families in partnership with schools, general practitioners (GP) and voluntary welfare organisations. She currently practices family therapy and systemic psychotherapy for child, adolescent and adult patients in the IMH. She leads the medical social work inpatient service for the child and adolescent ward in IMH and provides clinical supervision for medical social workers at the Department of Developmental Psychiatry, IMH. So Leng co-edited the publication, REACH Chronicles: A Community Mental Health Model for Children & Adolescents in Singapore. She gave lectures to the Graduate Diploma in Mental Health for GPs offered by the National University of Singapore and the IMH, and conducted workshops for the Ministry of Education to equip school personnel in supporting students who experienced stress from critical incidents. |
MR JOEL NEO Joel received his Graduate Diploma in Social Work at the Singapore University of Social Science, having previously graduated from Murdoch University with a Bachelors in Media Studies and a minor in Social Psychology. Joel was previously with Fei Yue Community Services since 2009, utilising his unique blend of experiences in delivering talks on New Media issues, Internet and Gaming Addiction, and Cyberbullying among others, to an audience that include schools, parents, tertiary students and fellow practitioners. Joel was also a pioneer in online counselling, and worked in various settings (Schools, Community, Rehabilitation Centres) providing face to face counselling, groupwork and therapeutic work to youths, young adults and their families. Joel is currently part of the REACH (Response, Early interventions and Assessment in Community mental Health) North Team, a community based mental health programme. |
Course Brochure
Get In Touch
For any questions about this course, please email us at swkcpepc@nus.edu.sg or call us at 66015960