Southampton conference focuses on children's behaviour problems
A conference being held in Southampton this Friday (15 March) will look at the growing issue of children and young people with serious emotional, behavioural, and mental health difficulties.
As many as 1 in 5 children is now believed to experience some sort of mental health issue in their childhood. This week's conference, Forging Links, organised by the Department of Social Work Studies at the University of Southampton and Southampton Behaviour Resource Service (BRS) will bring together local, national and international experts to share ideas and experiences of working with young children whose needs challenge mainstream services.
Julia Waldman, of the Department of Social Work Studies at the University of Southampton, explains: "Parents, teachers, other professionals and the government are increasingly concerned about children and young people who have challenging behaviours, some of which are anti-social and some of which put themselves and others at risk.
"On Friday young people who have been helped by the BRS, will meet with John Denham, Minister for Children and Young People, and professionals working in education, health, social services and the youth justice service from all over the country, to share ideas and experiences on how best to support such children and their families."
The conference takes place at the Saints Stadium on Friday 15 March from 9.30am to 4.00pm.
Notes for editors
9.30am Registration and coffee
9.50am Opening - Chair: Peter Lewis, Head of Children's and Young People's Services (Education) Southampton City Council
10.00am John Denham, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister of State for Police and Community Safety
10.15am Young People's Perspectives
10.35am Professor Malcolm Payne, Professor and Head of Applied Community Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University 'Working in Multi-Professional Teams'
11.15am Coffee
11.35am Workshop 1
1. Developing Multi-Agency Services -Commissioning and Management Perspectives
2. Developing Multi-Agency Services - Professional Perspectives
3. Working with young people's networks
4. Therapeutic approaches
5. Managing Placement transition across the care spectrum
6. How do we find out what works?
12.45pm Lunch
1.45pm Dr. Dan Edwards, Senior Consultant MST Services, Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, Medical University, South Carolina, USA. 'Developing Multi-Systemic Therapy Programmes for High Risk Youth'
2.30pm Workshop 2 (repeat of morning themes)
3.40pm Close - Dr. Carol Tozer, Head of Services Children and Families (Social Services), Southampton City Council Distribution of Conference publication
The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship. The University, which celebrates its Golden Jubilee in 2002, has 20,000 students and over 4,500 staff and plays an important role in the City of Southampton. Its annual turnover is in the region of £215 million.