Hugh Miller is a clinical tutor at the Anna Freud Centre and has also helped train education mental health practitioners (EMHPs), children's wellbeing practitioners (CWPs) and supervisors over the past four years. Originally trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Hugh retrained in cognitive behavioural therapy and continues to work as a senior cognitive behavioural psychotherapist in Sussex Partnership NHS Trust's CAMHS teams, and is the author of The CWP and EMHP Handbook (JKP, 2022).

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Dr Maria Papadima trained as a child and adolescent psychotherapist at the British Psychotherapy Foundation (IPCAPA), after completing a PhD on trauma, psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis. She currently works in a senior child psychotherapist post at an NHS high risk adolescent team in Enfield. Maria has a longstanding interest in therapeutic work with adolescents and their families, both short term and long term. In addition to her clinical work, Maria is a visiting lecturer at the Tavistock, an editor at the Journal of Child Psychotherapy, and teaches at the IPCAPA training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.

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Please do not share this recording outside the SIG.

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Dr Ola Demkowicz researches adolescent mental health, with a particular focus on the contexts and mechanisms that contribute to the emergence of difficulties across adolescence, as well as the factors that may mitigate such vulnerabilities. Ola is especially interested in emotional distress and difficulties, how systemic inequalities translate into mental health inequalities, and how youth spaces including schools can better align to adolescent needs. Ola is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Manchester and a BPS Chartered Psychologist with a background as an Early Years Practitioner. She is co-chair of the Ethics Committee in the School of Environment, Education, and Development (SEED), co-convenor of both the MIE 'Education and Psychology' research group and the MIE special interest group 'Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education’, and serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Evidence Based Practice Unit (a collaboration between University College London and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families).

1pm - 2pm, Thursday 11 January

1pm - 2pm, Thursday 15 February

1pm - 2pm, Thursday 25 April

10am - 11am, Thursday 9 May

1pm - 2pm, Thursday 23 May

10am - 11am, Thursday 20 June

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The school environment appears to be ideal for children’s mental health interventions: teachers’ daily, ongoing contact with families, their knowledge of the children they teach, and their setting in the community rather than a clinical context means that teachers are often the first port of call for families who need help and advice. However, while schools already do much to help anxious children – from whole-class wellbeing lessons in PSHCE/RSE to targeted support – managing anxiety in schools is far from perfect. Both targeted and universal interventions are often short-term, have limited capacity, pose practical difficulties for teachers, and do not always help children to apply strategies outside of the intervention environment. Drawing on twelve years of experience as a primary teacher, Helen will discuss her research to develop and evaluate a training program for primary school staff to minimise and manage child anxiety through their day-to-day classroom practice. 

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The focus of this talk was the current evaluation of the Welsh Government Framework Guidance on Implementing a Whole School Approach to Emotional and Mental Wellbeing. Dr Brown discussed areas of concern, both in planning the evaluation and in the emerging findings, for example: risks of attribution of effects (or null effects) where other activities are occurring in the same field; capturing what activities are being displaced by the new intervention and potential risk of this; burden on schools to deliver this policy along with other new initiatives; and risk from demands on school staff.

Dr Rachel Brown is a Research Fellow in DECIPHer, contributing to the programme of research into mental health, substance misuse in youth settings and complex intervention development. She is leading research on evaluating the Welsh Government guidance on a whole school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing. She is also working on a trial testing smoking cessation approaches in settings for people experiencing homelessness. 

• Brown, R. et al. (2023) A qualitative exploration of stakeholder perspectives on the implementation of a whole school approach to mental health and emotional well-being in Wales, Health Education Research,  38 (3), Pages 241–253, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyad002

  
  

• Brown, R., Van Godwin, J., Edwards, A., Burdon, M., Moore, G. (2022) Development of a theory of change and evaluability assessment for the whole school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing. Available at: https://gov.wales/whole-school-approach-mental-and-emotional-wellbeingevaluability-assessment  

  
  

• Brown, R. et al. (2023) Protocol for a theory-based, mixed-methods evaluation of the Welsh Government Framework on Embedding a Whole School Approach to Mental and Emotional Wellbeing. Open Science Framework. OSF | Protocol paper OSF.docx

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Dr Alexandra Marinucci, RMIT University - Unpacking the nuance of preventive and educational mental health school-based interventions

For the past decade, our team has been working towards understanding children, youth and parents’ mental health literacy needs. We developed a mental health literacy (MHL) model for children aged 8-14 years in Australia, alongside scales to measure MHL in children and adolescents, underpinning subsequent school-based program development. Our research program, rooted in a preventative and educational framework, aims to redefine youth understanding of mental health as a continuum of experiences, moving from youth identifying clinical diagnoses and school-wide interventions like CBT or DBT. Instead, focusing on educational MH strategies. The development of our MHL tools and educational programs are driven by a commitment to early prevention and enhancing understanding among young populations. A critical issue from our research is the potential for inadvertently furthering stigma, even from a preventative, educative approach. This issue underscores the complexities and possible unintended consequences of increasing mental health awareness. Our presentation will delve into the successes and challenges of implementing MHL in educational settings, specifically the issue of increasing potential stigma. We aim to engage with Dr Foulke's research group to exchange insights and feedback, enhancing our strategies and contributing to the broader discourse on youth mental health

Associate Professor Christine Grove is a practising Educational and Developmental Psychologist, academic and Fulbright scholar. She is a Vice-Chancellor Advanced Research Fellow at RMIT University funded with a Fulbright Fellowship, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, and fellow of the Australian Psychological Society College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists. She collaborates with key stakeholders to address critical challenges in youth psychology, with a focus on prevention and early intervention as well as assessment and management of existing mental health disorders. Her research seeks to improve the primary prevention of mental illness including addiction with the aim to reduce health-related risks. Christine has received 15 awards for excellence in health research, attracted over AUD$6million in research funding and has presented at over 50 national and international conferences. She is dedicated to improving the mental health and wellbeing of people worldwide.

Christine.grove@fulbrightmail.org

Dr Alexandra Marinucci is a research fellow at RMIT University, and psychologist (educational and developmental psychology registrar). Her work focuses on youth mental health with a preventative and promotional lens. Topics of interest include those that involve mental health education, including key stakeholders in research, and mental health promotion. As part of her research, she adapted a school-based mental health literacy program for Australian young people and evaluated this using a mixed-methods approach. Alexandra has worked on a number of projects, including with government agencies and not-for-profit organisations. As a psychologist, Alexandra has worked with children, adolescents and families in schools and clinical settings to support mental health, neurodiversity, education, and improve developmental trajectories.

marinucci.alexandra@gmail.com

• Child and youth mental health literacy theoretical framework: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104667  

• Development of school focused mental health literacy program: https://doi.org/10.3389/frcha.2022.1018173

• Australian School Staff and Allied Health Professional Perspectives of Mental Health Literacy in Schools: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09725-5

• Youth perspectives of menta health literacy study: https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.829578

• Scoping review of school-based MHL programs: https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.2018918

• School focused mental health literacy program protocol: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2021.200216

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There has been increasing research interest as to whether DBT, specifically the group skills training component, is an effective early intervention approach when delivered universally in schools. This presentation will review the findings of the first large-scale examination of a universal DBT-based intervention in schools. Furthermore, this study was the first in the DBT in schools literature to determine the extent to which home practice of DBT skills predicted changes in social and emotional outcomes over time. 1071 participants completed either an adapted eight-session DBT-STEPS-A intervention ('WISE Teens') or class-as-per-usual. It was unexpectedly found that the majority of outcomes on average were significantly poorer in the WISE Teens condition relative to control immediately post-intervention. This pattern in outcomes was generally significantly more marked in males relative to females. The majority of these group differences across outcomes had dissipated at follow-up. However, WISE Teens participants continued to report significantly poorer quality parent-child relationships relative to control. Nevertheless, greater home practice was generally associated with more positive outcomes both immediately post-intervention and at follow-up thus giving such interventions room for hope. Moving forward, further consideration is needed to determine how to increase participant engagement whilst additionally considering adolescents' developmental needs to ensure greater feasibility and efficacy of DBT-based universal interventions in schools.

Dr. Lauren Harvey is a practicing clinical psychologist and Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney. She completed her PhD at the University of Sydney investigating the effectiveness of a DBT-based universal intervention delivered in schools. Since completing her PhD she has continued to work as a clinical psychologist across multiple settings primarily with young people and their families including universities, schools, and currently in a CAMHS service located in the Sydney Metropolitan area. She applies an attachment-informed systemic lens in working with families across her practice. In her position working in CAMHS she has established alongside her colleagues the Northern Sydney Research Working Group within the local health district and is currently implementing the roll-out of a ‘Parent Hope’ research clinic investigating the impacts of a 6-session parent-led intervention focused on parental agency, self-efficacy, and self-regulation in routine practice as a means of improving outcomes in young people with moderate to severe mental health difficulties. From her time working in a CAMHS setting, she is passionate about the concept of earlier intervention for young people’s emotional well-being via supporting parents with their own emotional well-being.  

Relevant Work:

1. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Emotion Regulation Difficulties: A Systematic Review: https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2019.9

2. Investigating the efficacy of a Dialectical behaviour therapy-based universal intervention on adolescent social and emotional well-being outcomes: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2023.104408

Media Links:

3. "This is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers" (NY Times, Nov. 18, 2023):https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/opinion/teenagers-mental-health-treatment.html

4. "These Teens Got Therapy. Then They Got Worse." (The Atlantic, Nov. 6, 2023):https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/teen-mental-health-dbt/675895/

Owen Chevalier is a doctoral candidate at Western University in London, Canada and a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy. He works on problems in the philosophy of psychiatry and media theory with an interest in the relationship between new media and how people research, learn about, treat, and develop mental illnesses. He is currently working with a team studying how perceptions of psychiatric diagnosis are mediated by time spent on social media, and one developing a new framework for incorporating patient voices in psychiatric research. When he has time, he’s also working on a dissertation. He holds an MA in psychology from York University in Toronto.

Twitter: @ChevalierOwen

Relevant Article:

"It starts on TikTok": Looping Effects and The Impact of Social Media on Psychiatric Terms. [10.1353/ppp.2024.a930492]

Ian Macdonald has worked has a freelance mental health trainer for The Charlie Waller Trust since 2016, providing support to schools, colleges and more recently Mental Health Support Teams and those commissioning them - all focusing on developing whole school or college approaches to mental health. Prior to that he worked for Mentor UK on the national drug and alcohol education and prevention service (ADEPIS) and has held a variety of other roles across children's public health. Ian also works for the Open University in the school of Education, Childhood Youth and Sport, teaching on a variety of modules and researching student wellbeing in online environments

Key links

• Whole School and College Approach outcomes assessment tool https://wsca-measurement.co.uk/

• Best Practice Review of MHSTs and Whole School Approaches https://arc-kss.nihr.ac.uk/news/a-review-of-mental-health-support-teams-approach-to-support-schools-to-deliver-a-whole-school-approach-to-improve-the-mental-health-of-wellbeing-of-children?highlight=WyJtaHN0Il0=

• Primary school based mental health practitioners’ perspectives of school-based screening for childhood mental disorders and intervention delivery: a qualitative study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632752.2022.2110704

• Positive Digital Practices resource hub https://positivedigitalpractices.weebly.com/resource-hub.html

• Positive Digital Practices: Supporting positive learner identities and student mental wellbeing in technology-enhanced higher education https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/jime.831

Bio: https://www.reading.ac.uk/pcls/staff/jo-billington

The Centre for Autism Wellbeing Hub website: https://research.reading.ac.uk/autism/support-and-training/wellbeing-hub-2/

Bio: Dr. Carolina Guzman Holst is a NIHR Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on understanding individual differences in how young people respond to school-based mental health interventions. This includes investigating how and for whom these interventions work (or do not work), identifying those most at risk, and exploring risk and protective factors that may predict these outcomes. She is currently analysing and compiling data from multiple school intervention trials to address these questions using different types of data-driven approaches. Carolina holds a PhD and MSc in Experimental Psychology from Oxford and a BSc in Psychology from Brown University. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London.

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1pm-2pm, Thursday May 8

1pm-2pm, Thursday June 5

1pm-2pm, Thursday July 3

Bio: Dasha Sandra, MSc, is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Toronto, Canada. She studies the role of placebo (positive expectations) and nocebo (negative expectations) effects in personalised medicine and mental health. Currently, she focuses on testing how negative expectations may drive unintended harms in mental health awareness and is developing strategies to mitigate these effects.

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Bio: Jenny Sole is a Clinical Psychologist who trained at the University of Hertfordshire qualifying in 2013. Since qualifying Jenny has worked in NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services working both in complex needs and in early intervention and prevention. Jenny spent 5 years working offering CAMHS in schools in Islington North London ahead of leading Psychology and Simmons House Adolescent Hospital before relocating to Kent. In Kent Jenny was Education Lead for a Therapeutic Community ahead of returning to the NHS to lead two new Mental Health Support Teams. Most recently Jenny has stepped away from the NHS to set up independent practice consulting to schools and offering therapeutic support - the majority of Jenny's clinical work is with Emotion Based School Absence supporting both families and schools. Whilst in the NHS Jenny say in Educational Psychology Led panel consulting to schools on dilemmas concerning children's attendance to schools. She has completed additional qualifications in delivery of Cognitive Behavioural Based interventions, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescent Depression. Jenny has talked at Kent Wide forums training school staff in Understanding Mental Health and Understanding Neurodiversity. Currently working on submitting these ideas to Pastoral Care in Education in an attempt to reach more teaching staff.  

Relevant publication: 

Brown, R. Sole, J., Ferguson, S., & Nolte, L.., 2016. Creating Ripples: Towards Practice-Based Evidence for Narrative Therapy within NHS Contexts. Clinical Psychology Forum.

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Bios

Jo Ellins is Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Birmingham. She has more than 25 years’ experience of applied health services research and evaluation, and has worked in universities, charities and the private sector. Above all, Jo is interested in people’s experiences of ill health and of accessing and using services and support, and what can be learned from this to inform quality and service improvement. A more recent focus of her research has been youth mental health, in particular the role of schools in supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. Between 2019 and 2022, Jo led an early national evaluation of a programme to implement the proposals set out in the government’s Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision green paper. She is now co-leading a follow-on evaluation to assess the programme’s impact and cost-effectiveness.

Nicholas Mays has diverse experience in the field of health policy analysis and evaluation. Before joining the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he worked in the National Health Service in England (with spells in public health and in representing consumers' interests), in academic health services research (at the Universities of Leicester and London (St Thomas' Hospital Medical School), and the Queen's University of Belfast), in the independent sector (with a think-tank, the King's Fund, where I was director of health services research) and as a civil servant (as a policy adviser with the New Zealand Treasury). Between its inception in 2010 and 2023, he directed the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme-funded Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU) which is a collaboration between LSHTM, the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Glasgow University (http://www.piru.ac.uk/). 

Links:

Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme. Findings from surveys of schools and colleges and Mental Health Support Teams (2024) CYP MH GP survey 2024 report - Mundy et al (2025).pdf

Full article: Implementing mental health support teams in schools and colleges: the perspectives of programme implementers and service providers

Early evaluation of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Trailblazer programme: a rapid mixed-methods study | NIHR Journals Library

What happens when we put mental health support teams in schools? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SazpCpBYKo