Keeping the kids in mind
A webinar series about juggling families, healthcare and pandemics
How do we keep the kids in mind while we navigate COVID lockdowns, medical issues and the ups and downs of family life? Approachable, evidence-based advice in conversation with experts living and working in child health through the pandemic.
The webinar series about children's development and mental health during COVID were streamed weekly from August to November 2021. The weekly seminars were presented by Professor Adam Guastella, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health at the University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre and Children's Hospital, Westmead.
The conversations ask guests including teachers, psychologists, hospital staff, and technology and pharmacy experts to offer their insights gained over the past year of COVID lockdowns, home-schooling, hospital stays, and working with families in child development and menal health.
Topics include:
- Picking your battles – home schooling and the whole shambles!
- Managing uncertainty and anxiety - short and long-term worries in children
- Behind the mask - Fostering social development in young children
- Kids and COVID – Real world Sydney experiences
- Pregnancy and the pandemic
- Big data - what is data sharing, data linkage? Will it help families and clinicians?
- The psychology of anti-science beliefs
- Promoting language development at home
We have access to some great people who work in health and childhood development, who also have parents, partners or kids. We hope these informal conversations will help share some of their insights.
Youtube recordings - catch up on past webinars
Kids and COVID: what we know, what to do and what might help you and your family, with paediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr Phillip Britton aired on Monday 30th August 2021.
Watch the YouTube recording here
Wednesday 1st September 2021
Stuck together in lockdown. Again? How to have fun conversations with your family, with Professor Leanne Togher, speech pathologist and professor of communication disorders.
Watch the YouTube recording here
Monday 6th September 2021
COVID vaccines in children and youth: A review of the safety and evidence for use for parents, with A/Prof Nicholas Wood, Senior Lecturer in paediatrics and child health, Children's Hospital Westmead
Watch the YouTube recording here
Wednesday 8th September 2021
Grandparenting and keeping the generations connected: Watching grandkids develop from afar, with Associate Professor Fiona Kumfor, neuropsychologist specialising in social cognition and dementia.
Watch the YouTube recording here
Monday, 13th September 2021
Mental health and young people in the pandemic with Dr Katherine Knight, Medical Head of Department of Psychological Medicine at the Sydney Children's Hospital Network and Prof. Ian Hickie, co-director of mental health and policy at the Brain and Mind Centre.
Wednesday 15th September 2021
Keeping up with language development. Supporting communication development at home with speech pathologists Associate Professor Natalie Munro and Dr Rebecca Sutherland.
Monday, 20th September 2021
Pregnancy and the pandemic, with Prof. Nadia Badawi AM, Medical Director and co-Head of the Grace Centre for Newborn Care, Children's Hospital at Westmead and
Clinical Professor in Paediatrics & Child Health, and A/Prof John Keogh, specialist in obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatology.
Watch the Youtube recording here
Wednesday 22nd September 2021
The pandemic and getting back to school, with Tracy Considine, Canterbury Public School and Hugh Miller, Stanmore Public School
Monday 27th September 2021
What happens when one parent disagrees? Navigating health decision-making about vaccination and medication management in children and youth, with Professor of medication management Timothy Chen and A/Prof Betty Chaar, pharmacist with an interest in health law.
Wednesday 13th October 2021
Homesickness, mental health and wellbeing in hospital. Nicola Stokes, CEO of the Children's Hospital Foundation, talks to Adam Guastella about the new national Homesickness Initiative to support families in hospitals.
Watch on demand
Catch up on the latest seminar, or click here to open the playlist and browse the recordings in the series.