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A national mental health cascade training programme for practitioners supporting unaccompanied minors in Greece

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posted on 2024-08-20, 08:56 authored by Panos Vostanis, Panagiotis Sofios, Alexandra Petrali, Michelle O’Reilly
Background Practitioners who support unaccompanied minors (UAMs) come from different professional backgrounds and often are not appropriately trained to address children’s complex mental health needs. This gap informed a training programme across all accommodation centres in Greece. Methods The aim of the Train-of-Trainer (ToT) national programme was to upskill trainers from 17 organisations to cascade knowledge. Training was interprofessional, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive. A pilot implementation involved 199 practitioners from all disciplines. A sub-sample of 33 practitioners, nine managers and six trainers shared their experiences in focus group discussions, which were analysed through a thematic framework. Results Participants found that the programme was useful in generating knowledge relevant to children’s needs and their roles, addressing the emotional impact of trauma on staff, sharing learning across professional disciplines and being interactive, but systemic support should be put in place for benefits to be sustained. Conclusions Train-of-Trainer is a resource-effective approach to upskill mixed staff groups across many organisations. This should involve caregivers and staff with limited educational opportunities, while accommodating for different professional needs. Training should be integrated to service budgets, specifications and structures.

Funding

Tyrol Government and the SOS Children’s Villages Austria

History

Author affiliation

College of Social Sci Arts and Humanities Criminology, Sociology & Social Policy

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Volume

29

Issue

3

Pagination

833 - 849

Publisher

SAGE Publications

issn

1359-1045

eissn

1461-7021

Copyright date

2024

Available date

2024-08-20

Spatial coverage

England

Language

en

Deposited by

Dr Michelle O'Reilly

Deposit date

2024-08-19

Rights Retention Statement

  • No

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