First stakeholder event

March 26, 2018

Our first stakeholder event took place on 26th March in 2018 at the Medical University of Innsbruck. The event was attended by twelve stakeholders working in areas concerned with supporting children of parents with mental illness. 

Attendees were from various organisations and departments including: 

  • Child- and adolescent psychiatry department from the regional hospital – Tiroler Kliniken;
  • Adult psychiatry from the Medical University of Innsbruck;
  • Carer and advocacy organisations (Netzwerk Gesund ins Leben; HPE Tirol – Hilfe für Angehörige psychisch Erkrankter; Kinder-  und Jugendanwaltschaft); 
  • Support organisation for children in statutory care (SOS Kinderdorf); 
  • Youth centre (ISD Jugendzentrum);
  • Child and youth services by the council; 
  • Insurance companies responsible for commissioning (mental) health care in the region (TKKG).

The event started off with introductions and presentations by the research team emphasising the importance of the topic; this included information about the size of the problem and what is known about the long-term effects on children - this was also demonstrated in a video produced by the Canadian researcher Brenda Gladstone; as well as personal stories, which were demonstrated in a video by Lisa (HPE). The proposed research was then explained including the overall concept, the different work packages and the time lines. Detail was provided about the first stage of the process, which is the ‘scoping’ as well as about the co-development nature of the process. It was emphasised that a key aim was to make the research project useful to local needs by working with local stakeholders.

Stakeholders were given the opportunity to ask questions to the research. One immediate question was ‘Why Innsbruck?’ – after some laughter, the team explained that a range of options had been considered but that after discussions with managers of various institutions, the research team decided that Innsbruck was most suitable because of its networks and structures of partnership working, which made it easier to identify and work with relevant stakeholders. It was hoped that by working together one could get the attention and critical mass for social change in the region. 

Next, people were asked to break into groups to brainstorm on what they thought the main challenges were; how those could be addressed; and who needed to be involved. Lively discussions took place in each group, in which people used flip charts and sticky notes to document their ideas and suggestions. Common themes were:

  • Lack of trust and anxiety of parents to seek help as key barrier that needed to be addressed; 
  • Stigma needed to be addressed through awareness raising and ensuring low-threshold access to help;
  • Children needed practical support but this was currently not available; important role of universal or mainstream support (also to ensure that support was not stigmatising)
  • Important role of adult mental health was recognised (and need for raising awareness of child needs in this setting) but also need to look broader than this as only small proportion currently in adult mental health
  • Adult mental health was very busy and so any changes required from them needed to be in form of procedures and protocols and specific practice guidance
  • Networking was seen as very important and that this also required information sharing agreements and data protection procedures needed to be developed
  • Important contact partners in the field were those already working with this group of children and who had already expertise (e.g. charities like Frühe Hilfen Caritas, SOS Kinderdorf, Kinder- and Jugendanwaltschaft); 
  • Other partners needed to be identified in mainstream services in particular kindergarden or schools, general practitioners and paediatricians as those had more information about the daily life of families

The event was formally closed by thanking everyone and remarks about future collaboration and contacts details for feedback and questions. Attendees were then invited to stay for some refreshments and to chat with each other and the research team.