This subject introduces some of the key principles and approaches of working with young people in relation to mental health. The subject will also introduce the key theories and research that underlie contemporary understandings of young people and mental health.

Content includes:-

• The need for service reform in the mental health sector
• Understanding youth and mental health
• The clinical staging model of mental ill-health
• Aetiological models of youth mental ill-health
• Impact of mental ill-health on young people
• Early intervention in youth mental health
• Barriers and enablers in youth mental health
• Youth-friendly service delivery

This subject examines some of the key foundations of youth mental health clinical practice, including assessment, engagement and case formulation. It explores a variety of frameworks and provides an overview of the concept of youth friendliness, which is pervasive throughout all youth mental health clinical practice and service level delivery.

The content includes:

• Fundamental principles and strategies underlying youth friendly practice
• Key assessment frameworks for young people
• Introduction to conducting risk assessments
• Introduction to case formulation and shared explanatory models
• Assessing the needs of families and primary carers
• Ethical and legal considerations in youth mental health practice

This subject provides a foundational overview of deliberate self-harm and suicide-related behaviours in young people, and presents a range of evidence-informed approaches to monitor, prevent and manage self-harm and suicide risk in community and clinical settings. Course content includes:

• The epidemiology of deliberate self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people
• Key theoretical frameworks for understanding youth self-harm and suicidal behaviour
• Key aspects of suicidal processes
• Assessment of suicide and self-harm risk
• Suicide clusters and managing contagion
• Prevention frameworks for suicide-related behaviours
• Suicide prevention and postvention in non-clinical settings

This subject provides evidence-informed instruction regarding principles of assessing risk of self-harm and suicide-related behaviours in young people in clinical and community settings. The subject also includes a range of approaches to monitor, prevent and manage self-harm and suicide risk in clinical practice. Course content includes:

Suicide prevention strategies across a range of clinical and community settings

Working with young people with clinical presentations associated with self-harm and increased risk of suicide, including borderline personality disorder

Evidence-based psychological interventions, including cognitive behaviour therapy, for young people at risk of suicide

Managing self-harm and suicide postvention in school settings

Issues surrounding clinical engagement, risk assessment, formulation and safety planning