Excellent Child Mental Health Video Series for Family Law Lawyers and Parenting Coordinators

I've just discovered an amazingly useful cache of videos from Alberta Human Services on children's mental health issues. The nine videos are recordings of the lectures presented in part one of their Children's Mental Health Series and are presented by a variety of psychologists, social workers and other professionals, and cover topics including:

• "The Core Story of Child Development" (video);
• "Healing the Traumatized Parent and Child" (video);
• "Ameliorating Psycho-social Risk among Mothers with Intellectual Disabilities and their Children" (video); and,
• "Promoting Social and Emotional Well-Being in Children" (video).

The lecture series is aimed at professionals as well as caregivers and families, and is presented in generally accessible language as a result. After the usual housekeeping and introductory presentations, which frankly could have been edited out with no loss of content or quality, the lectures run for about an hour to an hour and a quarter. Each video includes a powerpoint presentation which can be downloaded separately, and a list of links to related online resources.

These videos will provide a helpful supplement to the knowledge base of anyone working as a parenting coordinator or providing non-evaluative views of the child reports, as well as family law lawyers whose practice includes an emphasis on children, mediation or collaborative settlement processes. They make an excellent companion to the animated video on children's brain development and reactions to stress provided by the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative that I have written about previously.

Part two of the Children's Mental Health Series will emphasize the adolescent brain and mental health and wellness challenges for youth and begins soon. You can get more information about the series and register through the website of the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research.