Youth mental health is worse than it’s ever been before.
Between the relentless onslaught of social media, the isolation and missed milestones from COVID-19, academic and social pressure to perform and conform…
Young people need support and understanding from adults in their lives more than ever.
But the challenges youth face today are so new and pervasive that even seasoned clinicians feel powerless, out-of-touch, and unable to influence the children and adolescents they work with.
But with the right tools, you CAN get through to youth.
In this FREE 3-day summit, 17 leading youth mental health clinicians share:- What it’s like to be a young person today and how to understand their world
- How to build trust with young clients
- Practical interventions for anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem
Register now to secure your spot in this FREE online training and discover proven, use-right-away strategies to connect with struggling youth, build their resilience, and help them thrive.
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This event is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification.
- 3 days of live expert-led presentations
- The complete set of course materials
- On-demand access to the recording for 14 days
- Interactive Q&A with the experts
In this training you’ll discover how to:
- Build trust and rapport with young clients
- Get youth to talk about what’s really bothering them
- Help young clients build resilience and see the big picture without being patronizing or offering empty reassurances
- Work effectively with complex or challenging family dynamics
- Work effectively with neurodivergent youth
- Tailor your interventions for each age group to make them relevant and effective for each young client
Child Psychologists, School Counselors, Teachers, Social Workers, Parents, and all Mental Health Professionals working with children and adolescents.
Insights and Strategies for Today's Challenges
How can we empower young people to become informed health consumers and advocates for their own mental well-being?
Despite the increasing emphasis on health education, adolescents and young adults often exhibit a marked deficit in health literacy, which can influence their long-term health behaviours and outcomes. In this presentation you’ll learn about the most effective, research-backed strategies for promoting health literacy among youth so that they can successfully navigate the healthcare system, communicate with healthcare providers, and critically evaluate health information for credibility and relevance. We’ll discuss the role of interactive, participatory methods for enhancing health literacy among young people, as well as innovative strategies such as peer-led discussions, problem-based learning, and the use of digital media. make informed health choices.
Autistic and ADHD Youth in Therapy
In this session, you will learn the most common barriers for neurodivergent youth to access mental health services and how you can make your practice more accessible and empowering to neurodivergent youth.
Childhood and adolescence are full of grief and loss. In this session, you will learn how children and youth grieve, how to be present for grieving young people so they feel seen and heard and how to help them understand what is happening, what their needs are, and how to get the support they need.
This presentation invites participants to reflect on their experiences of administering suicide risk assessments and offers practical strategies including how to:
- Have conversations that open up space for youth to speak about despair and other negative emotions they may be feeling.
- Ask questions in ways that are respectful and encouraging of life-sustaining steps.
- Protect yourself from common problems like burn out while doing this work or ticking boxes for requirements out of fear.
In this session you will:
- Identify the non-verbal factors that create more resistance in young clients
- Learn some simple interventions to strengthen your therapeutic connection with your client
- Learn how to slow down the therapeutic process and deepen your impact
Learn how to apply the CALMER (Cortex, Amygdala, Limbic, Memory and Emotional Regulation) approach, an evidence-based practice framework which is inclusive and neurodivergent affirming.
You’ll learn how to use a safe and supportive environment to facilitate improved interactions and positive connections.
Discover key strategies to enhance engagement with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse youth and get recommendations for effective therapeutic strategies for working with this population.
working with LGBTIQA+ young people
LGBTIQA+ young people need therapists who can be compassionate allies. Without the lived experience of the LGBTIQA+ community, many therapists unintentionally cause rupture or miss cues of safety for their clients, disrupting the therapeutic experience. Join Dr Polly McGee to discover strategies and tools to create belonging for your LGBTIQA+ young adult clients.
Join Clinical Psychologist Monique Mitchelson in a workshop online to explore what you need to know when working with Autism and ADHD in Girls and young Women. This workshop will present up to date information on how clinicians can identify and work with Autistic and ADHD girls and women in a Neurodiversity Affirming way in their practice. We will focus on how to support clients through puberty and co-occurring mental health and physical health challenges. Autistic and ADHD girls and young women have traditionally been under-diagnosed due to gender bias which has an impact on their long-term mental health, physical health and life outcomes. The field of Autism and ADHD is rapidly evolving as new research comes out and it is crucial to stay up to date in your practice when working with this population.
Alison Bell Getting young people to open up about their mental health can be uniquely challenging. Especially if your young client has been pressured into attending services by family and concerned others. In this session you’ll learn how to use Motivational Interviewing (MI) to address reluctance and resistance in young clients. MI is a collaborative, purposeful style of communicating paying particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for, and commitment to, a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.
This seminar outlines the current issues social media is creating in Australia to both Youth and Adults, including updated worrying statistics on Child Exploitation and effects on Self-esteem.
Many mental health practitioners see social media as a toxic instrument that exposes our youth to material that is not age appropriate, can start to wire their brain differently, and assist in forming toxic base core beliefs, that these young people carry through to their adult lives in a form of rules and assumptions about themselves and the world around them.
One such core belief social media can affect is a person’s self-esteem. This seminar will cover the main causes of low self-esteem that will help clinicians that work with youth and adults that are struggling to identify the causes and triggers of low confidence and low opinions of themselves.
What’s Really Going On for Students and Families?
School refusal is not a new experience, but it has increased since COVID19. This session delves into the underlying factors, common family dynamics, and strategies for resolving school refusal. In addition to key factors that can lead to school refusal and how mental health professionals can support students who are experiencing school refusal, and collaborate with students, families, and schools. This presentation will also cover the recommendations of the recent Senate Inquiry and assist participants to consider their own roles.
to Support Regulation and Wellbeing
Many young people today are anxious, in pain, angry and often feel hijacked by extreme emotional states that lead them to think and behave in ways that perpetuate their struggles. Our task is to help them understand and regulate their emotions by developing a connection to their inner world.
In this workshop you will discover practical ways to use Polyvagal Theory and IFS therapy with youth. You will learn how to use Polyvagal Theory to help young people to understand how their nervous system shapes their behaviour and experiences. IFS therapy offers a non-shaming compassionate approach to help young people increase awareness, connection, and an internal sense of safety. The workshop consists of creative, interactive and hands on training that you can use immediately to engage even your most difficult and challenging young people.
Supporting Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Developing resilience and kindness contributes to psychological well-being and resilience in our young people.
Since 2013, Resilient Youth Australia (RYA) has surveyed the mental health of over 700,000 young Australians aged 7 -19 years of age, plus an increasing number of students in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia.
Our research has contributed to the development of our Kindness Model which will be shared within a therapeutic framework that will provide a useful perspective to professionals working with young people. This presentation will include practical recommendations for therapists working with young clients and their families.
In this workshop you will discover a simple and effective process to help young people who feel overwhelmed, sad, angry, depressed, anxious, or stuck. Leonie Stewart will share practices based on Parts Theory, Neuroscience and Focusing (Felt sensing) to help the young people you support navigate their life in healthier ways. With the strategies you’ll learn in this training, you will be able to guide your young clients to know their Big/Best SELF. Once they do that, they will be able to “Get bigger than whatever is bothering them.”
Understanding what can drive a bully can empower our client to give them more choices to deal with these events as they arise. Ken also includes tips to make sure the parents of their adolescent guardians feel part of the solution and more equipped to deal with modern issues like cyberbullying. You’ll leave this session with practical strategies you can bring to your adolescent clients to help them feel more in control and self-aware of their personal experiences with a combination of CBT, Evolutionary Psychology and more.