When Mama or Papa is in Crisis: Helping very young children when their parent cannot

This presentation was part of the 6th Annual Mobile Mental Health Crisis Response Summit.

Many adults in need of mental health services are parents.  In fact, becoming a parent can lead to overwhelming mental health issues in a significant portion of people. This means that many adults have very young children in their care when emergency providers arrive. This talk will help providers understand the needs of very young children, recognize their signs of stress, and present strategies that will help them manage the childrens distress and provide safety and reassurance.

Learning Objectives:

1) Participants will identify three developmental needs of very young children
2) Participants will learn to recognize three signs of distress in very young children
3) Participants will learn at least four strategies to help very young children in distress

Content Level: Innovation: Designed to highlight new learnings, strategies or lines of thinking.

Presenter: Carol Siegel, PhD, LP, Clinical Psychologist – Private Practice

Bio: Carol F. Siegel, PhD, LP, is a licensed clinical psychologist in Minneapolis, MN and former faculty member in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Masters Program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.  She sees parents and children in her private practice. Her primary clinical focus is parent psychotherapy and issues encountered by parents with complex histories, including depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress. She is trained in clinical hypnosis and integrates stress reduction techniques in her clinical work.