CYMH: COPMI Best Practices Guide

 

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority Child & Youth Mental Health Services (CYMHS) in Vancouver Community developed a Best Practice Guide for working with Children of Parents with Mental Illness (COPMI) and their families.  This Guide builds on the pioneering work of local, regional, national and international researchers and contributors, including local parents with mental health challenges who have helped educate Service Providers to better understand the needs of families.

 The Guide was part of a larger Vancouver Community COPMI Project aimed at identifying COPMI prevalence within CYMHS; needs of this group, current practices and gaps in services as well as to address the needs for Service Provider education and training on COPMI risks and resiliency factors.  The Guide is being piloted by CYMH Clinicians with an aim towards incorporating preliminary practice shifts to improve services to COPMI families in Vancouver Community. 

 The COPMI Project Management Team wants to make this guide available to other Service Providers in hopes it would advance promising practice for COPMI in other locales. The Management Team wishes to acknowledge the Provincial Working Group on Supporting Families with Parental Mental Illness for making this possible and particularly, Michael Gallo for his dedication as their Volunteer Webmaster.