Certificate Training Programmes in Psycho-social Interventions for Public Mental Health

Emotional problems in children and adolescents such as symptoms of depression and anxiety are the leading contributors to health burden among adolescents worldwide. The prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems among school-aged adolescents is estimated to be from 19–34%. Although schools offer an excellent opportunity for early identification and management of children and adolescents, like many other low and middle income countries there is no formal system for school-based programmes for children and adolescents in Pakistan.

Working with national and international child and adolescent mental health experts, educationists, policy makers and implementers under the umbrella of SHINE (School Health Implementation Network Eastern Mediterranean Region), our team has developed an integrated innovative model of service delivery for school mental health by applying scalable technological, technical, social and business innovations to address the challenges of scaling-up evidence-based school mental health programmes.

The School Mental Health Programme is a multicomponent and multi-level intervention programme which combines universal and targeted approaches. The curriculum is based on components from the social and emotional learning framework (SEL) to promote socio-emotional competences and life skills, and cognitive and behavioral theories to prevent problem behaviors among children. Through this course the participants will be exposed to a set of skills such as basic counselling skills for teachers, positive disciplinary strategies to manage disruptive behaviors in the classroom, teachers' wellness, parent-teacher collaboration, and promoting life skills in adolescents through circle time activities. Through this course, teachers can not only help children but can also spend a healthy, stress free life by taking care of their own wellbeing.

This course equips school administrators, teachers and school counselors with knowledge and essential skills to manage children with socio-emotional problems in school settings and improve the overall psychosocial environment of schools. The training also connects participants with appropriate community resources and referral pathways within their community to ensure optimal care for child and adolescent mental health.

The programme follows a competency based curriculum. The training programme uses a blended training approach: it includes online and in-person classroom training, teachers' training workshops, and short video lectures complemented by online supportive group sessions to implement the programme in the classrooms under expert supervision. The online training platform for teachers is supported by a chat-bot — an aide-mémoire — to allow specific knowledge and support to be more readily disseminated to adolescents through the teachers in school settings.

This training programme is ideal for individuals seeking a career in education, school counselling, child psychology and health, and educators who want to enhance professional skills development for further career growth.

Completion certificate will be issued on the basis of completing the classroom training and satisfactory programme implementation under expert supervision.

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The first 1000 days are the most crucial days of a newborn's life, as this period provides the best opportunity to ensure optimal child development. The Nurturing Care for Early Child Development certificate training programme builds on our expertise of working with communities to promote optimal maternal and child mental health and well-being. The training curriculum is based on evidence based components of the Nurturing Care framework.

By the end of this course the participants will be equipped with counselling skills that include early childhood care, stimulation and education strategies embedded within the Nurturing Care framework, that will help them promote and create early learning and responsive caregiving for optimal maternal and child health. Through a series of practical training workshops participants will be trained in developing and delivering low intensity psychosocial intervention centered on early child care and maternal well-being. The participants will also have an opportunity to work in partnership with families, to support and empower parents and caregivers in providing the best possible environment for their young children.

This psycho-social training programme is for health workers, peer volunteers, public health participants, undergraduate and postgraduate students, or anyone who is interested in enhancing their counselling skills and professional career in improving maternal and infant mental health and well-being. The programme follows a competency based curriculum. The blended training involves online course work certification followed by field supervision by programme trainers.

Completion certificate will be issued on the basis of completing the classroom training and satisfactory programme implementation under expert supervision.

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Autism and developmental delays and disorders are a leading contributor to burden of disease, and many barriers to care exist for children with developmental disorders, which may be attributed to a lack of awareness among families, lack of support workers and the stigma associated with the conditions. This makes caring for a child with developmental delays, disorders and autism a huge challenge.

This parents skills training programme has been adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health Gap Action Programme – Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) recommended guidelines for the management of children with developmental disorders in low-resource settings, and builds on our expertise of delivering trans-diagnostic interventions by training undergraduate and post-graduate students, parents, caregivers and peer-volunteers through a task-shifting approach.

CST is a manualised training programme based on principles of applied behavior analysis, developmental science, social communication interventions, positive parenting, and self-care methods. The programme aims to improve (a) the child's development, specifically in regard to promoting social communication and adaptive skills and reducing disruptive and challenging behavior; (b) the caregiver–child relationship; (c) the child's participation and inclusion in daily home and community activities; (d) the caregiver's role and functioning, by promoting self-confidence, parenting skills and knowledge, and coping skills and psychological well-being; and (e) create self-sustaining 'family networks' led by champion caregivers within local communities to increase caregivers' access to community resources and referral pathways to ensure optimal care.

By the end of this course the participants will be able to learn strategies that will help increase spontaneous nonverbal and verbal communication of the child, increase time in shared engagement, reduce child challenging behavior, improve caregiver coping skills and psychological well-being, and improve family functioning.

This caregivers skills training programme is for caregivers of children with autism and developmental disorders and delays, health workers, volunteers, public health participants, undergraduate and postgraduate students, or anyone who is interested in enhancing their caregiving skills, counselling skills and professional career in care of children with developmental disorders, delays and autism. The programme follows a competency based curriculum. The training involves a blended learning approach, including classroom training followed by online supportive supervision to implement the programme under expert supervision.

Completion certificate will be issued on the basis of completing the classroom training and satisfactory programme implementation under expert supervision.

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