Why are alcohol & mental health still "missed opportunities" in violence prevention?
Ruti Levtov & I reviewed 450+ sources for our new paper in Public Health. Huge thanks to the Prevention Collaborative team for the support! Read our review here:
pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272854/1-s2....
🚸 Strengthening the mental health of parents and caregivers can prevent family violence.
In this evidence review, @erinstern.bsky.social outlines how prevention programmes improve parental mental health to mitigate risks of child maltreatment.
🔗 https://cutt.ly/ftyF4KWM
#PreventionCollaborative
📝 Thank you to everyone who joined our Senior Associate @erinstern.bsky.social at#GMHSummit2025 this week!
💬 Let’s keep the conversation on the critical links between mental health, intimate partner violence, and child maltreatment going!
#UnderutilisedStrategies @gmhsummit.bsky.social
Parental mental health isn't just an individual issue—it's a structural one, deeply tied to patriarchal norms, power, & violence. Join this #MenEngageCoLab featuring @erinstern.bsky.social to explore how to end family violence.
📅 24 November
⏰ 3:00 PM CET
🔗 https://bit.ly/24NovCoLab
@prevention-collaborative.org
I'll be representing the Prevention Collaborative work considering the intersections between poor mental health and family violence at this important convening.
At the opening plenary of the Global Mental Health Summit in Cape Town, Dr. Lenny Naido (Manager of Specialized Health for the City in the Western Cape) noted that one of the deepest causes of poor mental health in the city is violence including community level violence and domestic violence.
www.datocms-assets.com/112720/17506...
As part of What Works to Prevent VAWG Ending Violence against Women and Children Help Desk I found it very eye opening albeit harrowing to co-write (with Erika Fraser) a rapid evidence review on orphan trafficking and how it increases the risk of abuse and exploitation of children.
✨Exciting news!
🎓Applications are open for this year’s cohort of our facilitated course, Programming for Prevention: A Practical Approach to Design & Implementation.
🔗Apply by 27 July https://cutt.ly/zrRtWgQ5
#ProgrammingWell
Join our new course and learn from experts Gemma Ferguson, @bini2025.bsky.social and @erinstern.bsky.social, to strengthen your capacity to prevent violence in the family using effective SBC strategies.
Apply before 31st May! 👉🏾 https://cutt.ly/QrktjjlP
prevention-collaborative.org/wp-content/u...
Interested in how evidence based strategies from the mental health and alcohol fields can inform and strengthen IPV prevention curricula? Check out this new report that synthesizes discussions about such opportunities with 15 alcohol use and mental health experts.
#CollaborativeQ&A 3: Parenting programmes can strengthen parental mental health through various pathways including: strengthening bond with children, increasing mental health literacy, increasing parental confidence and social support, increasing food security, decreasing marital conflict and IPV.
#CollaborativeQ&A 2: There are a range of protective factors that can strengthen the mental health of parents and
caregivers, from social support to economic strategies to more equitable divisions of caregiving, which can in turn prevent the risk of child maltreatment.
#CollaborativeQ&A 1. The evidence warrants the need to take parental and caregiver mental health seriously, which can increase the risk of child maltreatment, particularly in combination with additional risk factors: poverty, history of childhood maltreatment and trauma, marital conflict, and IPV.
#CollaborativeQ&A Sinovuyo programme in South Africa focuses on improving caregiver adolescent relationships
through emotional and conflict management and problem-solving. A evaluation found reductions in abuse reported by youth and caregivers, and parenting stress and depression. cutt.ly/jreZh6MP
#CollaborativeQ&A MaPa parenting curriculum in the Philippines incorporated mindfulness stress reduction activities for caregivers. MaPa female caregivers reported that the mindfulness-based practices helped them regulate their anger towards their children and spouses. cutt.ly/LreZh0OB
#CollaborativeQ&A This brief aimed to take a broad view of available evidence to better understand pathways between parental mental health and child maltreatment: systematic reviews, quantitative, qualitative, implementation science research, although prioritized evidence from the Global South.
#CollaborativeQ&A This is a highly topical systematic review on the effectiveness of parenting programmes to strengthen mental health among parents and caregivers who are refugees and forcibly displaced families. cutt.ly/zreZbkkc
#CollaborativeQ&A This is an interesting new review on the particular value of group based programmes to strengthen parental and caregiver mental health: cutt.ly/ZreZbizg
#CollaborativeQ&A The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Mental Health & Well-Being of Parents helpfully conveys why this is an issue to take seriously! cutt.ly/ireZv4x3
#CollaborativeQ&A UNICEF's Caring for the Caregiver Module builds frontline workers’ skills in strengths-based counseling to increase caregivers’ confidence and help them develop stress management, self-care, and conflict-resolution skills to support their emotional well-being. cutt.ly/HreZvSgl
#CollaborativeQ&A The Pathways Diagram (Figure 1) also distills underlying factors that can increase the risk of poor parental and caregiver mental health including childhood trauma and adversities, gender norms and inequalities, IPV, poverty and food insecurity, conflict, and social support.
#CollaborativeQ&A Figure 1 in the brief presents pathways of how common mental health problems among parents can influence poor mental health by influencing parental-child relationship quality, self-esteem and resilience, self-regulation and emotional management.
MaPa in the Philippines: www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journal...
