Helping Teachers to Help Children Living with a Mentally Ill Parent

Abstract

The material presented here is based on a pilot European project (Daphne Project, 2000/EU funding, collaboration of Greece and England) regarding parental mental illness and children‘s welfare and needs1.The presentation focuses upon the responses of a group of teachers working in primary education in relation to identi-.cation issues and assessment needs regarding 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 identi.cation mechanisms in the school setting 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 practice in the classroom.