THE IMPACT OF SEN ON CYP MENTAL HEALTH & EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

Many children do have some form of special educational need beyond social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) that can impact their functioning and wellbeing in a system that is challenging for them to navigate. These can be subtle, children can mask them and sometimes are simply not significant enough to warrant further investigation by the school, but are nevertheless impacting greatly on the child's life. This can then lead to or exacerbate social, emotional and mental health needs in a complex picture that it is hard to understand and deconstruct.

Often children are referred to us because of concerns around the emotional wellbeing and mental health or challenging behaviour. However children are complex and there might be underlying needs that have not yet been recognised, or perhaps they have been recognised and the child is struggling with managing them in school, home or elsewhere.

Content Summary: 

This day will explore the impact of SEN on children and young people and how that links to emotional wellbeing and mental health, with reference to the neuroscience behind it. The day will cover:

• A skeleton overview of the most common SEN issues that practitioners might come across - including how they might present in the therapy room and the classroom.
• The impact of diagnosis and medicalisation. Exploring the double bind that is created by needing to have a diagnosis to get support and what impact that diagnosis has on a child's identity formation.
• Advocating for that child to get their needs met. 
• Meeting the child's needs in therapy.
• The impact on parents and siblings.

Issues included will be autism, ADHD/ADD, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), developmental language disorder (DLD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD) learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyscalcula, dysgraphia, cognitive processing issues) Sensory processing disorder (SPD) As with Naomi's other trainings for us, she is very kindly sharing an accompanying handbook and links to useful resources as part of the ticket price - which will be sent on after the training has taken place.

Who is it for:

Child and adolescent therapists & counsellors, SENCO’s, wellbeing practitioners, teachers, mental health leads, youth workers, social workers, support workers, teaching assistants and any and all who are interested in this intricate but fascinating area of complexity and want to consider how they might support children, young people and their families better.

Workshop Facilitator:

Naomi Moore trained as a play and creative arts and child/parent therapist. She runs the weekend play provision and volunteer mentoring at Great Ormond Street Hospital and runs training for GOSH, international children's charities and in schools on play, children's emotional wellbeing, mental health and trauma informed education.

Prior to her therapy career she worked in early years and primary education specialising in nurture group work with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. She has worked with children and young people of all ages and their families internationally, as well as in the UK, across both state and private sectors including specialist adolescent inpatient units, orphanages, refugee camps, palliative care and severe medical trauma.

For more information and to book, head over to Ticket Tailor