Every practitioner who interacts with parents of dependent children can play a role in supporting children’s mental health. One of the ways practitioners can do this is by sharing relevant and appropriate information with parents about child mental health, so they understand how to support their children’s social and emotional wellbeing and recognise the early warning signs of mental health difficulties.

This paper outlines the nine key steps that practitioners can follow to ensure the information they provide to parents about child mental health is high-quality, useful and relevant to their family’s circumstances.