Dartington named as core partner in ambitious £5.3m initiative called Kailo: a systemic approach to improving adolescent mental health

 

Chief Executive | @tim_hobbs_lab

Dartington has formed an exciting partnership to develop, test and refine an ambitious approach to help young people and local areas develop locally produced and evidence-informed approaches to improve adolescent mental health. The team is led by Research Director, Professor Peter Fonagy OBE (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences) and Professor Tim Hobbs (Dartington Service Design Lab). Their partnership has been awarded a UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) Consortium award of £5.3 million over five years.

Named ‘Kailo’, which means connected or whole, the project will bring together:

  • Leading mental health researchers, system modellers and evaluators from UCL and the NIHR North Thames Applied Research Collaborative; and Exeter University and the South West Peninsula Applied Research Collaborative (PenARC);

  • Social researchers and designers from Dartington Service Design Lab and Shift; and

  • Voluntary sector mental health practitioners from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and Redthread.

  • An Expert Advisory Group co-chaired by Professor Sir Michael Marmot (Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity) and Dame Rachel de Souza (Children’s Commissioner for England).

Evidence shows that young people facing social or economic disadvantage have a higher likelihood of developing and experiencing mental health problems. These systemic inequalities have been exacerbated over the pandemic. The funding will support a multi-disciplinary team of leading scientists and practitioners working alongside communities to develop locally tailored strategies to combat the underlying causes of mental ill health in their area.

Tim Hobbs, Chief Executive at Dartington, and recently appointed Visiting Professor at UCL, said: “This has been some time in the making. It brings together in one initiative many things we’ve been exploring over the last few years, and fantastic partners to make it happen. We’ll be using and generating research and evidence yet grounding the work in human-centred design and the experience and assets of young people and communities. Rather than focusing on services or activities in isolation, we’ll be taking a broad, systemic approach to address the wider determinants of mental health, as they are manifest in local areas.”

How the project will work

During the initial phase of the five-year initiative, Kailo will be trialled in two distinct communities experiencing differing forms of disadvantage: North Devon, an area which is rural and sparsely populated, and Newham in East London, an area of dense urban population.

The research will test the feasibility of Kailo across these contexts, so that the model can be refined and implemented more widely in subsequent years. This will involve a range of innovative research methods.

Professor Peter Fonagy said: “The pandemic has placed an unprecedented strain on young people’s mental health and even before the pandemic evidence suggests that poor mental health is on the rise in this group. We know all too well that impact and disadvantage are not equally felt in society – young people from minoritised and economically disadvantaged groups suffer the most. Here is an opportunity to design something innovative to address this pernicious problem.”

Professor Tim Hobbs continues: “The current system for addressing mental ill health has been developed to be reactive under the strain of limited resources. This means that a response is often triggered only when a problem becomes severe. This new, connected approach will support practitioners and community leaders to work with young people and families to co-design evidence-informed and locally tailored strategies designed to address the underlying causes of mental ill health in their area.”

The UKPRP funding is part of a wider £50m multi-funder initiative to improve population health and reduce health inequalities.

 This work was supported by the UK Prevention Research Partnership, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and Wellcome.

Preparatory work begins this autumn, and we’ll share news and ways to get involved as the work develops.

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