Helping vulnerable children to become more resilient
Keywords:
resilience, prevention, intervention, parental depressionAbstract
Children whose parents have significant depressive illness are at greatly increased risk of developing mental health problems themselves as they get older. The research on resilience suggests that a programme which combines work with the child, the family, and strengthens community supports is likely to have a positive impact upon the child's vulnerability. We describe the content and operation of such a service, and report on the results from its first 18 months of operation, which suggest that it does have a positive impact in many areas of child and family functioning.