4. Mental health and addictions
- Date: 2022-10-12
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session A
- Time: 11:00 - 11:45 am
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.)
Learning Objectives:
- To review the relevant research and resources promoting a family-centered, coordinated primary care response for advancing the well-being of parents of adult children struggling with complex mental health problems and/or substance use disorders.
- To understand the unique burdens, roles and responsibilities of caregiving for these adult children within today’s social context.
- To offer a framework of ten (10) key assessment strategies and practice tools to assist healthcare providers with identifying and addressing the physical, psychological, financial and emotional impact of parenting for these issues in later life.
Summary/Abstract:
In Canada, by age 40, 1 in 2 adults have/have had a mental illness, many with a co-occurring substance use disorder. Parents of these adult children are often a neglected or misunderstood patient group. While most parents transition from a child-focused stage of family life to one of greater freedom and reinvestment in other pursuits, these parents often have not. The stress and burden of navigating life with these adult children requires significant resources as well enduring the internalized sense of shame for not successfully launching their offspring. If this “burden of care” fails to be identified, the symptoms of these patients when they present in clinic may be perceived as predictable age-related health problems (e.g. fatigue). However, the impact of having adult children with mental health and substance use disorders is profound and health care professionals must not overlook the complexities of these caregiving experiences and potential to affect both physical and mental well-being. How are these parents identified? What factors including primary care supports might moderate this burden? What degree of a parent’s functioning is an outcome of continually navigating the uncertainty of life with their children? How can parents adopt a greater balance between their attachment to their children with setting the necessary boundaries and limits that protect their own well-being? This workshop will address these and other care interventions including how healthcare professionals can be more mindful of this patient population and respond with the insights and practices which best support their physical and psychosocial needs.
Presenter:
- Angela Townend, Social Worker, MSW, RSW, London Family Health Team