National Institute for Health and Care Research

About Mental Health in Development

An introduction to our background and vision, and the team, partners, and funders making it possible.

Background

Most mental health problems start in childhood or adolescence, and an increasing number of young people are experiencing mental health problems. Currently the majority of those affected do not receive professional support or interventions, and the outcomes are mixed for those that do. The Department of Health and Social Care mental health research goals (2020-2030) call for research with the potential to halve the number of children and young people experiencing mental health problems.

Our Vision

We want to accelerate children and young people’s mental health research, and translate it into interventions that are targeted, effective, and accessible:

  • preventing mental health issues before they arise,
  • treating them when they do in a way that sustains long term recovery,
  • and adapting research and interventions to meet the diverse range of needs of children and young people across the country (including age, gender, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, location, and socio-economic status).

We are building sustainable infrastructure to increase research capacity, identify key mechanisms involved in the onset of mental health issues, improve lived experience participation, trial innovative research methods, and develop novel interventions focused on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.

We are bringing together researchers, clinicians, school staff, early years practitioners, third sector professionals, funders, commissioners, and policymakers from across disciplines & institutions alongside children, young people, their parents, carers, and families to understand the wants, needs, and experiences of families, communities, and services and together turn research into practice.

Our Work

To achieve our vision, we are facilitating a range of projects which are developing infrastructure, research capacity, and collaborations across institutions and sectors, whilst involving key patient and public stakeholders at all stages.

Projects include:

  • three new research networks, bringing together researchers with 1) schools, 2) early years services and professionals, 3) parents and carers
  • the AnDY Research Clinic Oxford, an NHS service launched in 2024 for young people combining assessment, treatment, and research
  • developing an online platform for researchers investigating the causes of common mental health conditions, and investigating how we measure and assess mental health (Adaptive Innovative Measurements, or AIM)
  • investigating innovative methods to involve young people and communities in research, so they are at the centre of the work we do (INSiGHTS).

We are also working in partnership with colleagues at the Universities of York and Liverpool who are leading major birth cohort studies in regions which experience significant inequalities (including  Born in Bradford, the Wirral Study, and C-GULL).

Our Team & Partners

Led by Professor Cathy Creswell, we are a multidisciplinary team of internationally renowned researchers mainly based at the University of Oxford, with partner colleagues based at the Universities of Birmingham, Reading, Liverpool, Oxford Brookes, and York. We also work closely with three NHS Foundation Trusts: Oxford Health, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s, and Berkshire. And our Parent Carer Research Network is being developed in partnership with the Charlie Waller Trust.

Our Funders

Mental Health in Development is part of the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds, enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing and promotes economic growth. NIHR BRCs are collaborations between universities and NHS organisations, bringing together academics and clinicians to translate research into new treatments, diagnostics, and technologies. In 2022, the NIHR awarded £816 million over five years to 20 BRCs across England.

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