About REACH

The REACH study will help us understand the best ways to promote good mental health among young people from all backgrounds.

The study is taking place in 12 secondary schools in south London, with over 4,000 young people invited to take part since 2016.

REACH is based at ​King's College London, and is funded by the European Union. 

WHY are we doing this?


​Most mental health problems begin when people are still at school. Around 1 in 10 young people are thought to experience a mental health problem.

​We want to understand more about what causes these problems so we can improve mental health and well-being among young people. This could help many young people in the future!

The aim of the REACH study is to understand what things lead to better mental health and what things lead to worse mental health in young people from all backgrounds.

What do we mean by MENTAL HEALTH?


Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects different areas of our lives, like how we feel and our behaviour. Just like we need to look after our physical health, we need to look after our mental health too. It can be thought of as:

       - How we feel about ourselves and the people around us
       - Our ability to make and keep friends and relationships
​       - Our ability to learn from others and to develop emotionally

​The way that people deal with different events and situations, and with difficult thoughts and feelings can vary between individuals.

Learn more about mental health here or have a look at our resources for young people page.

​How can YOU help us?
If you go to one of the schools taking part in REACH, we need your help! You can help us see how positive and negative life experiences affect people's mental health over time.

We'll come to your school and explain more about REACH, most likely at an assembly. If you take part, you will ask you to complete a questionnaire during lesson time. There will be some questions about how you feel and the things that have happened in your life. This will take no more than one lesson to complete. We will visit you again one year and two years afterwards and ask you to complete this questionnaire again. 

Your answers to the questionnaire will be completely confidential (private). Only the research team will see them. Your classmates, parents, and teachers will NOT be able to see your answers and your name will not be on the questionnaire.

We will also ask some pupils to take part in an extra part of the study.  This will involve completing a further questionnaire and some 'thinking skills' activities. This is so that we can understand in more detail what leads to better mental health. We will choose young people for this part of the study entirely at random.

The next phase of REACH started in May 2020 and will be moving online for the foreseeable future. You can find more information on the next phase of the REACH study here.

What's in it for ME?

  • ​​Helping other young people
  • Real life science
  • Increased awareness of mental health problems​
  • £15 voucher for taking part in a REACH interview 

Want to know more?


You can REACH us here!