Mental health nurses need more training to help children
A mental health nurse is calling for more training to consider children’s needs when assessing parents mental health, reports the BBC.
Sarah Rutherford from Manchester Metropolitan University said that currently children are still being cared for by parents who are undergoing treatment for mental health problems, which could be putting them at risk. She said that there were no guidelines for how to assess what should happen to the child, and also no follow-up procedure after the parent had been given treatment.
It is the responsibility of the mental health nurse to inform social services if a child may be at risk due to their parents mental health issues, and Ms Rutherford said that they were not given guidelines to follow or any training on what to look out for.
Ms Rutherford said: “It used to be the case that children were taken away from mothers with serious mental health problems. Now, this is not the case and that is a good thing because children are often better off with their parents. But we do not know if children are being put at risk either emotionally or physically.”