This comprehensive guide provides overviews of the key psychological processes affecting mental health, such as development, attachment, emotion regulation and attention, and draws out the implications for preventive measures and promotion of emotional well-being. The authors, from a range of professional disciplines, emphasise the importance of early intervention and prevention, exploring in particular how initiatives in parenting and education can promote children's emotional well-being. The topics they cover include:

* the prevention and management of addiction and eating disorders

* the development of culturally sensitive services for ethnic minority children and families

* the impact of parenting programmes and the life skills education programmes in schools

* ways of meeting the mental health needs of children who are socially excluded, homeless or in local authority care.

Providing examples of a broad range of projects and initiatives in Britain and other European countries, this handbook will be an invaluable resource for all professionals working in child and adolescent mental health.