Mood Disorders Centre

Mood Disorders CentreGroupsSouth West Mental Health Gap Practice Research Network (PRN)

The South West Mental Health Gap Practice Research Network (PRN)

The South West Mental Health Gap Practice Research Network (PRN) is currently being formed and launching in early 2025.

We want to establish a similar PRN to the Northern NHS-TT PRN (http://www.iaptprn.com/) which has been innovating in Talking Therapies services for over 10 years. However, we want to bring together practitioners (NHS, VCSE), researchers, and patients to co-design and deliver research to support the needs of clients who fall into the treatment gap between primary and secondary care mental health services.

We have been developing research and training in this space over the past year, and the initial plans for the South West Gap PRN are as follows:

  • Supporting continuing professional development(e.g., We have delivered top-up and skills training for Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs), High Intensity Therapists and GPs to support working with clients with Personality Disorders)
  • To support and evaluate innovation in real-world settings (practice-based evidence, e.g., establishing a grief pathway in Devon TALKWORKS NHS-TT)
  • To support the delivery of high-impact formal research to innovate and evaluate novel treatments and care pathways (evidence-based practice, e.g., adapting mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for individuals with depression who have not responded to NHS-TT high-intensity treatment)
  • To help build the future clinical-academic workforce (e.g., supporting clinicians with research skills training and accessing research funding)
  • To influence mental health policy and commissioning to align to the evidence-base 

We want to work together with you to understand how the network will be a useful source of support.

If you would like to hear the latest news, and receive details of our initial stakeholder consultation and launch event, please subscribe to our mailing list here: https://exe.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b9nhBoepO3q3TyS

Any queries can be directed to Asha Ladwa (a.ladwa@exeter.ac.uk) and Barney Dunn (b.d.dunn@exeter.ac.uk)