This session is part of a series on working with families experiencing parental mental health diagnoses and can be taken in any order.
Course Overview
When parents suffer from mental illness, the entire family is impacted. This training explores the effect on children when their parents have an Addictive Disorder mental health diagnosis (gambling will be excluded). Participants will also engage in an exercise to help them have greater empathy for parents who struggle with Addictive Disorders. This training offers practical recommendations on how to facilitate support and change for parents who may struggle with their symptoms. Participants will also develop informal action plans to assist them in their own professional work with families.
This intermediate level training is designed to support caseworkers, social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other helping professionals who are working alongside families impacted by a parental diagnosis of Addictive Disorder. This informative session will include didactic lecture, as well as group interaction, personal reflection, and a time for Q & A.
Participants will be able to:
Describe at least 5 key effects an Addictive Disorder may have on a parent’s ability to parent
Identify at least 3 core strategies to work more effectively with families impacted by a parental diagnosis of an Addictive Disorder
Develop an action plan to assist them in their work with families impacted by a parental diagnosis of an Addictive Disorder
Jim Still-Pepper, MA, LSW
Jim is the Director of Community Based Clinical Services at Allwell Behavioral Health Services Inc., a community mental health center where he has worked for over 3 decades striving to get clinical services out of the centers, and into the community.
Jim is the founder of Still Light Seminars LLC, a motivational training and consulting company; he has trained nationally and internationally focusing on the mental health, and care of, children and adolescents.
He is also an adjunct instructor in Ashland University’s Founders School of Continuing Education. He develops online courses around behavioral interventions and understanding the mental health of students.
Jim has also authored or co-authored 7 books and has written almost 100 articles. On a side note, he has had numerous poems published, and his artwork and photography have appeared in galleries, magazines, and on greeting cards.
