New Scientist Live
September 2018
September 2018
REACH recently featured at the New Scientist Live (@newscilive) event at the ExCeL Centre in London, as part of the wider team of researchers from King’s College London. NSL draws a crowd of children and adults alike to engage with exciting developments across a wide array of scientific developments. Charlotte and Dan felt privileged to be able to demo the Virtual Reality equipment to an audience of inspired young minds, as well as experts in the field, alongside chatting more casually about the achievements and aspirations of the project going forward.
Science Museum Lates
July 2018
July 2018
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On 25th July 2018, REACH staffed a stall at the Science Museum Lates ‘Medical Marvels’. A melting pot of advancements in medical technology, the event hosted Dan alongside a team of enthused and charming KCL representatives showing off the Virtual Reality programme to an audience of 4000 A-level and university students, academics, and members of the public. The live data analysis, comparing a sample of data from our teenage participants to each attendee’s scores, proved particularly popular!
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ESRC Research Methods Festival
July 2018 This year’s ESRC Research Methods Festival was held in the beautiful city of Bath. The REACH team was fortunate enough to spend a few days at the festival learning about new and exciting approaches to research within the social sciences. The Research Methods Festival covered talks and workshops ranging from topics such as managing data in longitudinal surveys, to using comics to share research findings. The team are planning to use the knowledge gained to improve data collection and to share the results of the REACH project in more creative and accessible ways. |
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Digital Mental Health Conference
May 2018
May 2018
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The REACH team attended the first Digital Child Mental Health Conference in May this year. The conference aimed to share ideas and stimulate discussion about the role of digital technologies in improving children’s mental health. Dr Charlotte Gayer- Anderson delivered an engaging presentation on using virtual reality to explore social anxiety in adolescents, as part of the REACH study.
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InclusionMeet May 2018 REACH was kindly invited to speak at the latest InclusionMeet event on Tuesday 1st May. InclusionMeet provides an opportunity for practitioners in the field of Inclusion to come together and share examples of best practice. We were lucky to be in great company with other presentation topics including ‘recognising and managing anxiety in school’, ‘pupil leadership’ and ‘a parent’s perspective on managing challenging behaviours’. A big thanks to Oliver Cavigliolo (@olivercavigliol) for this incredible illustration of the REACH Study. |
REACH abroad - 19th Congress European Psychiatric Association Section of Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry
April 2018
Waltzing, schnitzel, and a meeting of over 350 experts in the field of mental health – the beautiful city of Vienna graciously hosted the REACH team at the 19th congress of the European Psychiatric Association. With a sneak peek at cutting edge research across Europe, and a platform to present new findings from REACH, this conference was jam-packed with opportunity.
Gemma (post-doctoral researcher and REACH project coordinator) brought her expertise on the relationship between physical and mental health to illuminate the links REACH have found between more activity and better diet on positive mental health outcomes. Rachel (PhD student) put forward her ideas on how new social network analysis techniques can give us insights into the spread of antisocial behaviour.
The success of REACH presentations helped facilitate perhaps the most important part of this congress - the connections we made with individuals in our global research community. These relationships will create opportunities for exciting collaborations to come – watch this space!
April 2018
Waltzing, schnitzel, and a meeting of over 350 experts in the field of mental health – the beautiful city of Vienna graciously hosted the REACH team at the 19th congress of the European Psychiatric Association. With a sneak peek at cutting edge research across Europe, and a platform to present new findings from REACH, this conference was jam-packed with opportunity.
Gemma (post-doctoral researcher and REACH project coordinator) brought her expertise on the relationship between physical and mental health to illuminate the links REACH have found between more activity and better diet on positive mental health outcomes. Rachel (PhD student) put forward her ideas on how new social network analysis techniques can give us insights into the spread of antisocial behaviour.
The success of REACH presentations helped facilitate perhaps the most important part of this congress - the connections we made with individuals in our global research community. These relationships will create opportunities for exciting collaborations to come – watch this space!
Mental Health Question Time: Mental Health in Schools
February 2018
We were fortunate to be invited to speak at a panel discussion at University College London, hosted by the Mental Elf. The event focused on the priorities for addressing mental health in schools, and was especially important for REACH, considering the school based nature of the project.
Gemma Knowles did an amazing job representing the REACH team. The discussion raised key questions about how best to support schools in implementing mental health interventions for students. The issue of the mental health of staff was also raised, particularly important in light of the increasing pressures staff face. Watch the panel discussion here and add to the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #MHQT.
REACH abroad - Gothenburg Conference
December 2016
December 2016
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The REACH team presented initial findings from the pilot year at an international conference in Gothenburg. The conference was a great opportunity to share our project with researchers from around the globe. At this point, over 1,600 pupils had taken part in REACH – we’re incredibly grateful to all the pupils and staff who have participated. The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive. In particular, pupils highly rated the quality of the information they had received on mental health, and really enjoyed taking part in the study.
Part 2 of REACH has launched!
December 2016
We started Part Two of the REACH project in schools in the first week of December. This part of the research involves individual pupils having a interview – or more like a conversation – with two members of the REACH team. We can’t wait to hear what everyone’s got to say!
December 2016
We started Part Two of the REACH project in schools in the first week of December. This part of the research involves individual pupils having a interview – or more like a conversation – with two members of the REACH team. We can’t wait to hear what everyone’s got to say!
It’s research time!
November 2016
The last few weeks have been a great success, as we have been into classrooms and hundreds of young people have taken part. Thanks to their helpful and keen attitude, REACH has got off to a great start. We are so grateful to have the ongoing support of some great schools and their brilliant students.
November 2016
The last few weeks have been a great success, as we have been into classrooms and hundreds of young people have taken part. Thanks to their helpful and keen attitude, REACH has got off to a great start. We are so grateful to have the ongoing support of some great schools and their brilliant students.
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The REACH study has officially begun!
17 September 2016 On Saturday 17th September 2016, #REACHOut marked the official launch of our study and shone a light on current challenges surrounding adolescent mental health. There were talks from leading scientists, senior teachers, and young people with personal experience of mental health. A pop-up stall serving jerk chicken helped fuel a panel discussion at the end of the day. The event was a huge success: over 100 came to listen and to get more hands-on with mental health through the activities available, including virtual reality demonstrations! Guests ranged from mental health professionals, students, and members of the community. Feedback comments were very positive and included the following: “It was great!”, “Excellent balance of information and activities”, “Engaging and passionate speakers”. Thank you to everyone that attended! We’re particularly grateful to the speakers and photographer Yuebi Yang - www.yuebiyang.com. Check out Rachel Egan’s blog about the event by clicking on the following link: Rachel’s Egan’s blog |
Pilot study complete
5 February 2016
The REACH team have been working in partnership with the very first school to take part in the study.
To date, nearly 400 young people have completed questionnaires. Young people have also been asked for feedback on how they found taking part. We will be asking for further feedback from both parents and teachers. Feedback from young people has included statements such as:
'It was fun and I find it great that you are doing research with young people.'
'I liked REACH, I learnt a lot.'
There has been a keen interest from young people in taking part in the second part of the study. This involves completing further questionnaires and a series of thinking tasks.
Please check back for further updates on how the study is progressing!
5 February 2016
The REACH team have been working in partnership with the very first school to take part in the study.
To date, nearly 400 young people have completed questionnaires. Young people have also been asked for feedback on how they found taking part. We will be asking for further feedback from both parents and teachers. Feedback from young people has included statements such as:
'It was fun and I find it great that you are doing research with young people.'
'I liked REACH, I learnt a lot.'
There has been a keen interest from young people in taking part in the second part of the study. This involves completing further questionnaires and a series of thinking tasks.
Please check back for further updates on how the study is progressing!
Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework
Programme of the European Union
Programme of the European Union