Child mental health CoP - Session 5: Assessment and management of mental health disorders in neurodiverse children and young people

The child mental health community of practice (CoP) is a multidisciplinary CoP for clinicians including but not limited to GPs, practice nurses, psychologists, paediatricians, mental health clinicians, social workers and counsellors.

The aim of the CoP is to improve the capacity of clinicians assessing and managing mental health problems in children and adolescents. Over 6 sessions, facilitated by local GP Dr Sahar Iqbal, participants will examine case studies with experienced child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Chidambaram Prakash from the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Each monthly session will focus on a topic of interest. Sessions will be held using Zoom on Tuesday evenings, from 6:30pm to 8.00pm. 

The topic for session 5 is assessment and management of mental health disorders in neurodiverse children and young people. 7.4 per cent of Australian children aged 4-17 years have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and approximately one per cent have autism. These children are highly vulnerable to experiencing trauma and have a higher incidence of mental health disorders than neurotypical children. This session will focus on assessment, diagnosis, and management.  

Speaker

Dr Billy Garvey is a Paediatrician with nearly 20 years experience. He is a specialist in both the Centre for Community Child Health & the General Medicine department at RCH. He is an expert reviewer for the Raising Children’s Network, contributes to the RCH Clinical Practice Guidelines and is a reviewer for several academic paediatric journals. He is currently undertaking a PhD piloting a model to support child emotional and behavioural development in primary schools and is a Churchill Fellow exploring how social media can be used to support parenting. He is also the co-founder and co-host of the Pop Culture Parenting podcast which aims support child development and wellbeing using evidence in a meaningful, fun and realistic way.

Continuing professional development (CPD) hours are available for GPs attending these sessions. North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) will allocate 0.5 EA and 1.0 RP CPD hours per session for GPs who attend. CPD can also be claimed by participants.

Don't miss the other sessions in the series: 

• Session 6: Dec 5, 2023 6:30 PM – Gender dysphoria

For any queries, please contact education@nwmphn.org.au

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Confidently assess and identify common mental health conditions in children and adolescents  
• Discuss the best practice management for common mental health conditions in children and adolescents
• Identify appropriate referral pathways in local region to support management of children and adolescents with common mental health conditions