Looking Beyond the Label

Event Overview

Over recent years, professionals working with children and young people have witnessed a significant increase in referrals, assessments, and requests for mental health diagnoses. While diagnosis can be an important pathway to understanding, support, and access to services, many practitioners, parents, and young people are also asking important questions about what comes next.

• How do we offer meaningful help beyond a diagnostic label?

• What might be driving this growing search for certainty and explanation?

• How can we continue to hold the complexity of young people's experiences with care, curiosity, and compassion?

This event brings together voices from education and clinical practice to explore these questions. Together, we will consider the changing landscape of childhood and adolescence, the pressures facing young people and families today, and the opportunities for support that extend beyond diagnosis alone.

Guest Speakers

Catherine Davis

A teacher with 30 years of classroom experience will reflect on changing patterns in children's behaviour and emotional wellbeing, and what these shifts may reveal about the world young people are growing up in.

Maria Pappadema

A Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist will discuss her clinical work with children and parents through a developmental lens to understand emotional distress and support healthy emotional development, without reducing a young person to a diagnosis.

Martin Clephane

A head teacher with over 16 years in the role, will discuss his commitment to character education and the importance of nurturing resilience, integrity, and wellbeing alongside academic achievement. He will share the development of an innovative character curriculum built around the core values of Belief, Rights, Environment and Well-being (BREW), and consider how these principles can support young people in navigating the challenges they face.

About the Event

Designed for professionals working with children, young people, and families across education, health, social care, and community settings, this event offers a reflective space for learning and discussion around rising levels of distress among young people.

Price: £35