A general education and/or introduction to what has been happening in this field over recent decades, and, interesting inputs from relevant practitioners and people affected by imprisonment, would stimulate interest in further education in these fields as well as being relevant to the work to be done.
It would be important that we include the Family Support Shamrock. That is, the role of creativity, boundedness, and inclusiveness, and balancing all three, so that our work will attract those who most need our support.
As our work is intimately concerned with child protection, it will be necessary to cover child development in general and, in particular, protection of children in families where criminality and subsequent imprisonment is ongoing.
The Pillars approach to child protection needs to be explored and critiqued. (If we have learners from families affected by imprisonment it is possible that some may have experienced their approach).
In the post on emotional learning we discussed shame as an important emotion that has negative impact, and that we need to be aware of in self. Shame that debilitates (sometimes known as toxic shame) also, of course, impairs normal development in children.
But shame also has a role in growth and healthy development of conscience – so it is important that learners know the difference and the effects of both types on children.
We have referred to mental illness as emotional distress in a previous Sub-Chapter, and, I suppose, in the website in general I tend not to use the term of mental illness that much.
Yet it is very educational for us to have knowledge of different kinds of mental illnesses, (including mental illnesses in children) as defined by the Pillars. From my experience I know that such topics will generate critical discussion on diagnosis of conditions vs. journeying with families and the benefits of one over the other – particularly if people are of the opinion that support to families in distress needs to be offered over a long time.
Part of our overall education will be knowledge of, and discussion on good, common sense, health and safety principles in family support and crisis intervention work. Perhaps, if feasible, it may be useful to include first aid – including mental health first aid.
In all the above it would be useful to have input from someone who has been to prison, (and given our belief in the potential of prison staff to be change agents) prison officer, Garda, social worker, drug addiction worker, etc., all of whom have different roles working in this field.