Therapy with Youth Navigating Parental Mental Illness

This training is designed for clinicians who work with children, adolescents, and young adults whose parents have a mental illness. The focus is on understanding how parental mental health symptoms shape a young person’s emotional, cognitive, and relational development, as well as how these dynamics appear in session. Participants will learn assessment strategies, ways to conceptualize parent–child interactions, and clinical techniques for supporting youth as they process, understand, and navigate a parent’s mental illness. The training emphasizes attachment-informed, cognitive-behavioral, and systems perspectives, with practical guidance for reducing distress, strengthening communication, and fostering resilience. Clinicians will also learn how to collaborate effectively with caregivers, address boundary challenges, and support healthy adjustment within the family system.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe strategies that help clinicians evaluate how parental mental illness affects a young client’s behavior, functioning, and treatment engagement.

2. Explain how to collaborate with caregivers while maintaining the child’s therapeutic alliance and developmentally appropriate…