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Background: Practitioners who support unaccompanied minors (UAMs) come from different professional backgrounds and often are not appropriately trained to address children's complex mental health needs. This gap informed a training programme across all accommodation centres in Greece. Methods: The aim of the Train-of-Trainer (ToT) national programme was to upskill trainers from 17 organisations to cascade knowledge. Training was interprofessional, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive. A pilot implementation involved 199 practitioners from all disciplines. A sub-sample of 33 practitioners, nine managers and six trainers shared their experiences in focus group discussions, which were analysed through a thematic framework. Results: Participants found that the programme was useful in generating knowledge relevant to children's needs and their roles, addressing the emotional impact of trauma on staff, sharing learning across professional disciplines and being interactive, but systemic support should be put in place for benefits to be sustained. Conclusions: Train-of-Trainer is a resource-effective approach to upskill mixed staff groups across many organisations. This should involve caregivers and staff with limited educational opportunities, while accommodating for different professional needs. Training should be integrated to service budgets, specifications and structures. Plain language summary: Staff who support refugee children without parents come from different backgrounds, and often have limited mental health knowledge and skills. To address this gap, a national programme was established for 17 organisations hosting accommodation centres across Greece. Selected professionals were upskilled as trainers to cascade knowledge to their staff group. Training was based on the understanding of the impact of trauma and children's cultural needs and was provided to interdisciplinary staff groups. In total, 199 staff attended pilot training. Experiences of the training were shared by a sub-group of 33 trained staff, nine managers and six trainers through focus group discussions. These were analysed through a qualitative thematic approach. Key findings included the relevance of new knowledge to children's needs and staff roles, training as a team, using learning methods based on real issues, and supports that should be put in place to ensure that benefits are maintained. Such a model of cascading knowledge and skills can be useful for large numbers of organisations and staff supporting refugee and other vulnerable children. Training should include staff such as caregivers, who may have had limited educational opportunities, while balancing between different staff roles. Training should be integral to all functions of accommodation centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes to the law in England require all primary schools to teach Relationships Education and all secondary schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Our focus in this article is on the voices of teachers and other educational professionals in relation to this change. Discussion in three focus groups held with 16 educational professionals, indicated concerns regarding some of the challenges associated with the implementation of the new legal requirements, as well as recognising fresh opportunities afforded to teachers for engaging with children and young people. Through analysis, it was noted that participants considered how lessons on relationships and sex should cover LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, others) issues, with strategies advanced for building bridges between schools and parents/communities. Our research indicates a difference between the importance of Relationships Education/RSE and the perceptions of those charged with teaching it, as well as the view that the laudable aims underpinning the new provisions in England will only be realised if appropriate support and training is given to teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on integrated data from focus groups and diary entries, we explored the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on child well‐being for children from five Majority World Countries. We focus on the disruptions the pandemic caused, the adjustments made in response to these, and children's vision of a post‐pandemic world. Underlying children's experiences of loss, boredom and concerns about educational progress, was an awareness of systemic inequalities that disadvantaged them or others in their community. Findings have implications on capturing children's voices through introspective and dialogical approaches that transcend cultures and for the development of preventive and responsive interventions during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social media are integral in the lives of adolescents. Practitioners need to be able to assess risk, and social media are potentially a new dimension to consider. Adolescent voices and practitioner perspectives are central to understanding the relationship between social media and mental health, yet there is limited work that highlights their views. Aims: This paper aims to illuminate the perspectives of adolescents and practitioners about social media and mental health. Method: Eight focus groups, six with adolescents aged 11–18 years and two with mental health practitioners, were conducted. Ethical approval was provided. Discussions allowed for expression of experiences, views and opinions of the relationship between social media and mental health. Results: Participants discussed what might be thought of as the "good", the "bad" and the "ugly" side of social media, navigating the benefits of social media to well-being against possible negative impacts on adolescents. They differentiated personal use from third party attributions whereby they extolled the risk to adolescents outside of their personal group. Much of the negative rhetoric of social media was repeated by mental health practitioners, although there was some acknowledgement of potential benefit. Conclusions: Practitioners need to consider social media and its role in practice. When risk-assessing adolescents, it is arguably useful to include a social media dimension, without presuming the relationship will be negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Child mental health interventions in Majority World Countries should be contextualized to local sociocultural needs. • Integration to existing psychosocial support can enhance uptake and maximize limited resources. • A Train-of-Trainer cascade approach has potential to widen reach and sustain impact. • Communities should be involved in the whole design and implementation process. This study evaluated the process of integrating child and youth mental health to existing psychosocial support in disadvantaged South African communities. Four child practitioners of the host organization attended a Train-of-Trainer programme. They subsequently co-produced an intervention informed by a service transformation framework along five service domains. Implementation involved 368 community participants. A sub-sample of 43 participants were engaged in focus groups on their experiences. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Established themes were inter-linked and transcended the five intervention domains. Engagement and conceptualization of mental health through awareness were viewed as pre-requisites to application of new knowledge. This should be supported by systemic changes, predominantly community mobilization and integrated care. Knowledge transfer involving collaboration between services and communities would enable sustainability of impact. The findings led to the formulation of a Theory of Change. Integration of child and youth mental health through a cascade approach that actively involves communities in co-production and delivery can enhance service provision in resource-constrained Majority World contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]