Childhood visual impairment: impact on mental health and wellbeing

Do you and your colleagues have the confidence to deal with the mental health needs of your visually impaired children and young people, and are you able to identify when they are struggling with mental health needs? This training brings together research and information from a range of current thinking to offer a holistic approach to exploring the mental health needs of our visually impaired young people.

As a learner on this course you will have increased understanding about the impact that vision loss has on mental health. Key areas covered will be the importance of physical activity and avoidance of sedentary lifestyle; anxieties and phobias; mental health in the school environment and how our vision impacts this; preparation for adulthood and how to support families.

Although this course is specifically linked to the field of visual impairment, you will be able to transfer knowledge into other contexts to support a wide range of children and young people.

Learning outcomes:

• Improve your support for children with visual impairment by understanding their mental health needs
  
• Identify when a visually impaired child may be experiencing mental health difficulties
  
• Increase the resilience of your visually impaired pupils
  
• Improve support for parents of children with visual impairment through increased understanding of their needs and perspectives
  

Audience: professionals working with children and young people with vision loss