Parental Mental Health/Illness and Children's Well-Being: Implications for the Educational Services

Abstract

The material presented is based on a pilot European project (Daphne Project, 2000/EU funding, collaboration between Greece and England) regarding parental mental illness and the children's welfare and needs.1 The presentation focuses upon the responses of a group of teachers working in primary education in relation to the identification and assessment needs of children who live with a mentally ill parent. The results showed that, although the teachers are able to identify risks and protective factors in the cases of a parental mental illness, there is a lack of early identification mechanisms in schools and an absence of a shared understanding of relevant issues across services and agencies. The results are discussed in relation to school-based prevention initiatives that empower teachers to feel that they contribute to change in their schools as well as in their own classroom practice.

Keywords:

• parental mental illness
• teachers and interagency collaboration
• children's well-being