Childhood Adversity: The Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Mental Health
Learn how childhood trauma impacts a child’s beliefs, behaviour, and development
We know half of all mental health conditions emerge before age fourteen, but there’s a need for a greater understanding of young people’s mental wellbeing.
On this course, you’ll improve your understanding of how early adverse experiences can impact a young person’s mental health.
You’ll learn from world leaders in child development and hear from educators in disciplines like neuroscience and educational psychology.
Using evidence-based research, you’ll examine the different ways childhood trauma can influence an individual’s psychological state, educational outcomes and social difficulties.
What topics will you cover?
Week 1
- Introduction to the topic of childhood adversity in the form of abuse and neglect and its impact on a young person’s well-being;
- Clinical perspective on the challenges that young people face who experienced early adversity;
- Clinical perspective on how this affects the ability to form trusting relationships later in life.
Week 2
- A neuroscientific perspective on how early adverse experiences can change biological systems such as the brain in an attempt to adapt to the situation;
- An introduction to the latest research implicating changes in threat processing and memory after childhood maltreatment in young people exposed to adversity;
- A neuroscientific perspective on how such changes can be seen as adaptations to the adverse situations (Latent Vulnerability).
Week 3
- An educator’s perspective illuminating the particular challenges and opportunities young people with adverse experiences face in a school setting;
- An introduction to alternative provision schools and how they can support young people who have experienced adversity.
Course provider
