Children's Mental Health Disorders (0-5)

This dynamic and interactive course explores the impact of trauma on children, common signs and symptoms of children’s mental health disorders, common misdiagnoses for children in the child welfare system, and the most appropriate evidence-based interventions for each disorder for children ages 0-5.

After attending this training, participants will be able to:

Describe the impact of trauma on children’s brains, bodies and behaviors
Identify common signs and symptoms of children’s mental health disorders, including DSM diagnostic criteria
Be familiar with signs that a child may be misdiagnosed or over-diagnosed
Understand overlap in symptoms between diagnoses and what to look for to differentiate between common diagnoses
Distinguish common elements of effective treatments for children and how to assess whether children are receiving effective treatments
Recognize interventions that are appropriate and evidence-based for each type of child mental health disorder

CEUs

0.55

Section Number

263CPS912

Instruction Method

Online class

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Section Schedule

Mon., Feb 22nd, 2027, 9:00am to 12:00pm

Thur., Feb 25th, 2027, 9:00am to 12:00pm

Fees

$0.00

Instructors

Brandi Hawk

Brandi Hawk earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied the impact of institution-wide caregiver interventions on the development of young children reared in institutions in the Russian Federation. She is currently a licensed psychologist at the Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource, Evaluation, Diagnostic, and Treatment Center (CAARE Center) within the Department of Pediatrics, UC Davis Children’s Hospital. She is the clinical manager for programs providing mental health services to children experiencing homelessness and young children in new foster placements and is a co-developer of Parent-Child Care (PC-CARE), a brief intervention for children and caregivers. She has conducted trainings on children’s mental health, interventions for children, parenting and childhood trauma both nationally and internationally.

Chelsea Alcantara

Chelsea Alcantara is a clinical psychologist at the UC Davis Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation (CAARE) Center in Sacramento, California. She provides evidenced-based treatments to underserved youth ages 0-18 years and their families with a variety of mental health conditions. She also provides mental health consultation and preventative dyadic interventions within an integrated primary care clinic for youth involved in child welfare. Her expertise is in treating children that have experienced trauma and in the treatment of young children 0-5 years and their families. She focuses on strengthening the caregiving relationships in a child’s life that sets the foundation for resilience and all future development.