Professor Stephen Scott to lead latest Transformation Seminar on how online parenting support can transform child and family mental health

Professor Scott is Director of the National Academy for Parenting Research at King’s College London. He is a world leader in bringing together rigorous science and creative skilled clinical work in the field of parenting interventions for children with conduct problems and for children who were placed in foster care following abuse. His research has demonstrated that treatments that are effective in university clinical settings can work in the community, including with socially disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups. The Transformation Seminars take place at the Anna Freud Centre, Rodney Street, London N1, and ask a simple question: what is the one big idea that you have that could transform children’s and families’ mental health? We know that demand for mental health support is increasing and that this need cannot be met by professionals alone. So how do we transform the way we think about and deliver mental health support for children and families? In his seminar, Parenting Matters Online: a programme to help parents transform children's mental health and well-being, Professor Scott will argue that the way we bring up children can be modified to improve their happiness, their security of attachment to their parents and their social adjustment, as well as their reading and school achievements. He will say that the key aspects of successful parenting are sensitivity to responding to the child and the setting of clear boundaries backed up by consequences. However, there will never be enough people to offer parents face-to-face support, so an online offer needs to be developed. He will describe how he has taken this work forward. The Transformation Seminars are chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre who said: “We want to address some of the most important questions that we face in mental health. The seminars explore areas beyond clinical interventions – important though they are – to ask how can we do things differently to meet the growing needs we have as individuals in a social world. We have some incredibly eminent speakers with some illuminating ideas and I’d like to invite all of you who are interested to sign up and join the debate around the future of mental health. I’m delighted that Stephen Scott is joining us. His research, practice and ideas have transformed the way we think about parenting nationally and internationally. I’m very much looking forward to chairing this and subsequent seminars.” This is the fourth in the series of Transformation Seminars. The next Transformation Seminar after Professor Stephen Scott will be delivered by Professor Danny Dorling on The Geography of Fitting In. You can book your free tickets to our Transformation Seminars and stay up to date on what is coming up next.