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The IPWSO Mental Health ECHO®

Using Zoom technology, we’re building a community of healthcare professionals and caregivers supporting wellbeing and mental health for people with PWS.

This ECHO programme is now concluded. As further ECHO programmes are determined they will be announced on our website and newsletter.

People living with PWS experience high rates of mental ill-health which significantly impacts on their quality of life and wellbeing. This in turn affects the family and others providing support and can result in placement breakdown and an increasingly restrictive quality of life for the person with PWS.

The management and treatment of the behaviours of concern and of mental ill-health known to be associated with PWS remains problematic and crucially depends on those providing support. This ECHO programme follows the recent IPWSO Mental Health initiative and seeks to support putting into practice the recommendations made in that upcoming Report.

Materials from past sessions can be found on our IPWSO Mental Health ECHO Videos page.

The aims of the Mental Health ECHO® are:

  • to develop a community of good practice in the promotion of wellbeing and in the assessment and treatment of behaviours of concern and mental ill-health in people with PWS;
  • to provide a regular forum for sharing ideas, obtaining support and guidance, and for disseminating new knowledge;
  • to enable the development of expertise in countries where there is limited or no expertise at present in the assessment and treatment of behaviours of concern or mental ill-health in people with PWS;
  • to support the development and undertaking of research and the subsequent development of research findings.

The Mental Health ECHO will include brief presentations and anonymised case presentations or relevant challenges, in each case followed by discussion. The presenters include experts from within and from outside the PWS field, such as experts in neuroscience, or those whose experience is in the support of other groups with complex needs.

Who can attend the IPWSO Mental Health ECHO®?

The ECHO is aimed primarily at professionals who support the wellbeing and mental health of people in their work, Mental Health Professionals and Professional Caregivers. Due to complex and changing needs of those with PWS allied health professionals who support those with PWS are also welcome as well as parents in supportive roles for their national PWS association.

 Further details

    • Dates: March – September, 2023. The programme is now concluded.
    • Time: All sessions 4pm London, UK time. Sessions last 90 minutes.
    • Attendance: Free for all participants.
    • Methodology:  All teach–All learn.
      Sessions will include both short and focused presentations by experts on PWS, as well as the discussion of anonymised cases and relevant challenges presented by participants.
IPWSO strives to make collaboration in our community as accessible as possible. If you would like to take part but feel you may experience difficulty with language or any other aspect of communicating with the group, we encourage the support of interpreters, family members or caregivers. Please let us know if you would like to plan any special arrangements and we’ll be delighted to support this. email echo@ipwso.org
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