Association For Child And Adolescent Mental Health (acamh)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19313 TRIGGER WARNING: Please be aware that this podcast discusses personal experiences of self-harm and suicide. This University Mental Health Day, we are joined by two students, Rhiannon Hawkins and Nathan Randles, to discuss student mental health and what CAMH professionals need to know. Rhiannon currently studies Geography at the University of Oxford and Nathan is a medical student at Keele University. Both Rhiannon and Nathan are also Young Representatives for the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Rhiannon and Nathan set the scene by providing insight into what University Mental Health Day is, why it is so important, and what the impact of the pandemic has been on student mental health. Rhiannon and Nathan talk to us about their own personal history and experience around mental health. They discuss their own past experiences with child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and whether this support is still available as a student. Rhiannon also explores whether there is sti

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19272 For this podcast, we are delighted to interview aspiring academic psychiatrist Clara Faria, winner of the ACAMH 2021 Undergraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year Award and ACAMH’s first Young Person’s Ambassador. Clara sets the scene by providing insight into what it meant to her to be recognised as ACAMH’s 2021 Undergraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year, as well as being named as the first ACAMH Young Person’s Ambassador. Having been previously divided between doing paediatrics and psychiatric training due to her interest in working with children, Clara talks us through how she resolved this conflict and discusses how she became involved with research in mental health, her role as a research assistant at the Laboratory of Panic and Respiration, and how this sparked her interest in child and adolescent mental health. Clara also explores how she balanced the combination of work, research, and study during her undergraduate studies, and shares tips for others who are following a simi

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19158 For this podcast, we are honoured to be joined by criminologist Joanna Foster. Joanna has managed the London Fire Brigade Firesetters Intervention Scheme and now runs fabtic, a company specialising in fire setting behaviour by children. Joanna provides insight into how common fire starting is in children, as well as at what age children start setting fires, and whether fire setting is different for young children and teenagers. Joanna talks us through whether the prevalence, and risk, of fire starting is the same for boys and girls and explores what the evidence shows regarding why children and young people start fires, including why fire can be seen as a form of expression. Joanna examines how we can identify a child who is at risk of setting fires, and discusses whose job is it to identify these children at risk, as well as what more need to be done to best support families affected by this. Furthermore, Joanna shares her advice to parents and carers who are worried that their

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19121 In this podcast, we talk to Dr. Eila Kankaanpää, senior lecturer in health economics at the University of Eastern Finland. The focus of this podcast is on the JCPP paper, ‘The long-term cost of childhood conduct problems: Finnish Nationwide 1981 Birth Cohort Study’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13506). Eila is a co-author of the paper and sets the scene by providing insight into her current role and what prompted her research in child and adolescent mental health. Eila talks us through what her paper looks at, what the costs associated with conduct problems in childhood include, highlights the methodology used, and shares some of the key findings. Eila provides further insight into her conclusion that the high costs justify the development and evaluation of interventions for childhood conduct problems. Eila then discusses what she would like to see done about this, as well as what area of research she would like to see being focused on. Furthermore Eila mentions what message policymake

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19061 For this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Sundar Gnanavel, Specialty Doctor CAMHS at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, and winner of ACAMH’s 2021 Postgraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year Award. Sundar sets the scene by providing insight into how he came to be interested in child and adolescent mental health, and what it meant to him to have received recognition for his work by winning ACAMH’s 2021 Postgraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year award. Passionate about teaching clinical psychiatry and using integrative methods, Sundar shares some of the methods that have proved successful, as well as what improvements he would like to see in the delivery of child and adolescent mental health services, and what changes are needed to enable this to happen. Sundar details insights he has gained from exposure to different health care systems and different child and adolescent populations, having worked both in developing and developed countries, before talking about

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18958 In this podcast, we talk to Professor Catherine Ward of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and winner of ACAMH’s Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) Journal Best Paper Award 2021. Catherine, and colleagues, won ACAMH’s 2021 award for JCPP Journal Best Paper for their paper, published in 2020, on ‘Parenting for lifelong health for young children: A randomized controlled trial of a parenting program in South Africa to prevent harsh parenting and child conduct problems’. Catherine sets the scene by explaining what winning the award meant to her, and what, in her view, made the trial itself, and the paper, so successful. Catherine details her work involving evidence-based approaches designed to reduce the likelihood of children becoming aggressive, and provides insight into another key strand of her work, which focuses on preventing child maltreatment and understanding the epidemiology of risk factors faced by South African childre

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18898 In this podcast, we are joined by Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Aisha Sanober Chachar, who is co-founder and Director of Synapse, Pakistan Neuroscience Institute. Aisha has a special interest in transcultural child and adolescent psychiatry. Having worked as a clinician in Pakistan, and having had her clinical rotations as a trainee in Nigeria and the UK, Aisha sets the scene by talking us through her journey from academia, to not-for-profit, to mental health entrepreneurship. Aisha provides insight into the global dearth in CAMH specialists, deficits in health training around the world, the impact that COVID has had in terms of global child mental health inequality; and how do these health disparities affect children and families. Aisha talks us through, in her view, the difference between adult and child mental health in an unequal world, and how we can foster a more global approach to address disparities and inequalities within child and adolescent mental he

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18841 For this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Catharina Hartman, Associate Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE) at the University Medical Centre, Groningen, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of our Open Access journal, JCPP Advances. Catharina’s research team aims to advance the understanding of the onset, and course, of childhood onset psychiatric disorders and uses data from longitudinal studies to explore the interplay between genetics, behavioural and environmental factors. Catharina has (co-) authored over 200 peer reviewed papers, and in this podcast, highlights some of the studies and findings that have had the greatest influence or are especially important to her, as well as provides insight into what barriers exist when translating research into practice. Catharina talks us through some of her recent work with the CoCA (Comorbid Conditions of ADHD)  project, and discusses what CoCA is, its overall goal,

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18654 In this podcast, we talk to Professor Mark Tomlinson of the Department of Global Health Institute for Life Course Health Research, Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The focus of this podcast is on the JCPP paper, ‘First 1,000 days: enough for mothers but not for children? Long-term outcomes of an early intervention on maternal depressed mood and child cognitive development: follow-up of a randomised controlled trial’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13482). Mark is the lead author of this paper and sets the scene by providing insight into what prompted his interest in both young people’s mental health and, in particular, the impact of maternal depression on infant and child development. Mark talks us through what his paper looks at, why he decided to research this area, highlights the methodology used in the paper, and shares his findings. Mark then provides further insight into the finding that, although the paper describes how caregivers who received a home visiting

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18469 In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Alex Neumann, of the VIB Centre for Molecular Neurology at the University of Antwerp, and Professor Henning Tiemeier, Professor of Social and Behavioural Science at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in Boston and professor of psychiatric epidemiology at Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam. The focus is on their co-authored JCPP paper ‘Combined polygenic risk scores of different psychiatric traits predict general and specific psychopathology in childhood’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13501). Alex and Henning begin by providing us with a quick insight into how they became interested in the field of child and adolescent mental health, before providing us with an insight into what their JCPP paper looks at and why they choose to explore this area. Alex and Henning then provide insight into the methodology used in the research and share some of the findings, including how polygenic risk scores associated with school age psychopatholog

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18457 In this podcast, we talk to Dr. Thorhildur Halldórsdóttir, Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology at Reykjavik University in Iceland and Director of the Icelandic Behavioural Genetics Centre. The focus of this podcast is on the JCPP Advances paper, ‘Adolescent well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Are girls struggling more than boys?’ (https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12027). Thorhildur sets the scene by providing a summary of the paper and highlighting the methodology used for her research, before sharing some of the key findings. Thorhildur then defines the difference between active and passive social media use, before providing further insight into her finding that active social media use amongst boys and passive social media use amongst girls was associated with increased depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Thorhildur also discusses the implications of her findings for professionals working with young people and their families, what policy makers should take from her

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18400 In this podcast, we hear from Dr. Johnna Swartz, Assistant Professor of Human Ecology at the University of California Davis. The focus is on the JCPP paper ‘Reward- and threat-related neural function associated with risk and presence of depression in adolescents: a study using a composite risk score in Brazil’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13496), co-authored by Dr. Johnna Swartz. Johnna sets the scene by explaining why she opted for Brazil to conduct her research, and provides us with a summary of the paper. Johnna then details why it is important to study low risk, high risk, and depressed adolescents, rather than just low risk versus high-risk adolescents or non-depressed versus depressed adolescents, before highlighting and explaining the key findings of her research. Furthermore, Johnna also discusses the implications of the findings for professionals working with young people and their families, and whether the risk scores used in the study are being adapted for use in clinical se

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18322 In this podcast, we talk to Jessica Armitage, a PhD researcher currently based in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Bristol. We hear about Jessica’s interest in understanding the factors that enable individuals to overcome experiences and adversity, plus what prompted her interest in this field. Jessica also discusses her co-authored JCPP Advances paper, ‘Positive wellbeing and resilience following adolescent victimisation: An exploration into protective factors across development’ (doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12024), including a summary of the paper, insight into the methodology used, and her key findings. Jessica also explores how she defines ‘good wellbeing’, and elaborates on her paper’s findings that factors that support wellbeing do not necessarily reduce the risk of depression. Furthermore, Jessica talks about the concept of school competence, providing further insight into her findings from the paper showing that victims of bullying who hold higher percep

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18254 In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Ann Ozsivadjian, independent clinical psychologist and visiting senior lecturer at King’s College London, and Dr. Penny Williams, consultant speech and language therapist at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. Ann and Penny set the scene by explaining the difference between self-harm and self-injurious behaviours in the context of autistic children, and provide insight into how common self-harm is in autistic people, as well as what is currently understood about why autistic children and young people self-harm. In addition, Ann and Penny discuss whether there are certain situations that can act as triggers, how parents can help to reduce these stressors, where parents can get help for an autistic child who is harming themselves, and what support can they expect to receive. We also hear about nonverbal strategies that can help when it comes to self-injurious behaviour. Furthermore, Ann and Penny also talk to us about whether there is a lin

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18071 In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Karen Mansfield, a postdoctoral research scientist from the School Mental Health Project,  and Associate Professor Mina Fazel, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. The focus is on the JCPP Advances paper ‘‘Covid-19 partial school closures and mental health problems: a cross sectional survey of 11,000 adolescents to determine those most at risk’’. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12021 In this podcast, we hear Mina explain what the School Mental Health project is and what are its’ aims. Karen then provides us with a summary of their co-authored paper, its’ methodology and its’ key findings. Furthermore, we hear Mina and Karen discuss that the risk groups identified would benefit from a broad curriculum of support for education and wellbeing, plus their suggestions as to how this support might be delivered and in what form. Mina and Karen also talk to us about how the findings from the paper tie in with other findings from the OxWe

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.17994 As the world focuses on the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), we caught up with Dr. Laelia Benoit, a French and Brazilian Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, invited as a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Yale School of Medicine. Laelia’s research focuses on ecoanxiety among children and adolescents, and she is a co-author of the recent paper ‘Ecological awareness, anxiety, and actions among youth and their parents – a qualitative study of newspaper narratives’, published in the Special Issue of CAMH. doi.org/10.1111/camh.12514 You can access this paper free until 3 December 2021 Laelia sets the scene by defining ‘ecoanxiety’ and ‘ecological grief’ in children and adolescents, and provides insights into how these can manifest in children and young people. Laelia then provides a summary of her recently co-authored CAMH paper, explaining the methodology used for the research and outlining the key findings and conclusions. Furthermore, Laelia also talks us through th

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.17546 For this podcast, we are honoured to spend time talking with Dr. Steph Lewis about the relaunch of ACAMH’s magazine, The Bridge. Steph is the Editor of The Bridge and a Clinical Research Training Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, London. Steph sets the scene by explaining what made her specialise in child and adolescent mental health, before explaining what The Bridge is, its aims, and why its existence is necessary and valuable. Steph also discusses what has changed about The Bridge and why, plus possible challenges The Bridge may face initially. Steph also provides details as to what type of content to expect and why evidence-based research is so important. Furthermore, we hear Steph talk about what more can be done to disseminate and promote evidence-based research and what more can be done to translate evidence-based research into practice.

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.17700 In this podcast, we hear from neuroscientist Dr. Peter Manza and Dr. Rui Zhang of the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland in the USA. The focus is on their co-authored Open Access JCPP paper ‘Prenatal Caffeine Exposure: Association with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in 9- to 11- year old children’. doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13495 Rui and Peter summarise the paper, provide an insight into the methodology used, as well as share some of the key findings, including the association of prenatal caffeine exposure with externalising problems in children. Furthermore, we hear Rui and Peter discuss what, in their view, is a safe dose of caffeine for expectant mothers, whether expectant mothers should cut out caffeine altogether, and what are the implications of this study for policymakers and professionals working with young people and their families.

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.17482 In this podcast, we talk to Lauren Cross, a Research Assistant with CHARM, which stands for Child and Adolescent Resilience and Mental Health at the University of Cambridge. We hear about Lauren’s work as a research assistant with CHARM, plus her research on mental health and wellbeing in schools and inequalities during childhood and adolescence. Lauren also discusses her co-authored CAMH debate paper, ‘Is there a true global children and young people’s mental health crisis, fact or fiction?’ (doi.org/10.1111/camh.12483), including her concerns regarding particular groups being missed from research, and elaborates more about the lack of data on the impact of COVID and young people’s wellbeing. Furthermore, Lauren talks about the fact that COVID-19 has magnified health, educational and social inequalities and what policymakers, and mental health professionals who work with young people, can take from the paper.

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.17392 The focus of this podcast is on a themed review for the NIHR on the experience of children and young people caring for in mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient settings and explores the focus of the themed review, as well as its aims. We hear from Candace Imison, Associate Director of Evidence and Dissemination at the National Institute for Health Research Centre for Engagement and Dissemination, and Dr. Shaun Liverpool, Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing at Edge Hill University. Shaun further explains how they were able to capture the experiences of young people in specialist and inpatient care settings, the importance of understanding experience to improve in-patient care and how to translate their findings into practice to make a difference. Candace also discusses the three key action points, identified from the themed review, to support The Quality Improvement Task Force for in-patient services for children and young people with a m