Working to improve children’s mental health

11 May 2018

Working to improve children’s mental health

11 May 2018

We are working on a joint funding bid with the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University for a ground-breaking project on children’s mental health.

The Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences (IPMCN) conduct high quality research into neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health problems in children and young people. Their research aims to learn more about the early origins, development and impacts of neurodevelopmental and mental health problems on children, young people and their families. Their overall aim is to improve prevention, interventions and policy.

This Project focuses on developmental genetic conditions called ‘Copy Number Variants’ (CNVs). Some people are born with genetic changes called ‘Copy Number Variants’ (CNVs). In some cases a section of their genetic code might be repeated (a duplication), and in other cases a section might be missing (a deletion). Some CNVs appear to have little or no effect, but some can be very serious. Occasionally a CNV might even give someone better resistance to certain illnesses.Generally however, CNVs are a significant cause of learning and developmental disorders, some of which are linked to a higher chance of experiencing serious psychiatric disorders.

Our project aims to develop more effective ways of ensuring children with intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD’s) have greater access to modern personalized genomic and integrated psychiatry services according to parents’ needs and preferences. 

Research at Cardiff University means we know which CNV’s carry risk of debilitating psychiatric illness; understand environmental influences and are able to recognize indicative emerging behaviors and emotional difficulties. This knowledge, when shared, will facilitate earlier intervention that is more appropriate. Intervention that will improve longer-term outcomes for children and their families.

We will use this knowledge to empower anxious families to access the best care for their children and engage with and influence multi-disciplinary services for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This project will support the creation and implementation of new, highly innovative and locally tailored, Shared Decision and Referral Support Services (SDRSS) that link inter-agency communications and decision-making. These services will engage with and influence service providers as well as advising, and directly advocating for families in need of services.

As part of this project, we would want to develop strong partnerships with small condition specific support groups developing cooperative approach to sharing and developing information resources. Use Cerebra’s skills, capabilities and family contacts to develop high quality accessible multimedia resources for families. Work collaboratively with service providers to develop and test a model way of working to achieve improved health and education outcomes for children.

We will know shortly if our bid has been successful, so watch out for the press releases.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Make a Donation

Please help support our vital work that enriches the lives of thousands of children and their families every day.

Sleep Service

Sleep Advice Service

LEap

Legal Rights Service

Parent Guides

Parent Guides

Cerebra Innovation Centre

Cerebra Innovation Centre

Library

Toy and Book Library