Writing retreat to bid for mental health support in schools for migrant children and young people

Katie Howard, Eleni Dimitrellou, Lenka Janik Blaskova and Darren Moore from Education, alongside Janet Smithson from Psychology, were the proud recipients of an Engagement and Impact Award from the Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Network. They were able to participate in a three-day writing retreat to develop a grant application for the Nuffield Research, Development and Analysis Fund.  

The aim of the project is to investigate the accessibility and efficacy of mental health support in schools for migrant children and young people (CYP) in line with trends of migration into the UK. The researchers hope to draw on participatory research methods to ensure that the voices of young people are central to their project.  

As a research team, they had the opportunity to meet at various venues across Exeter and had valued the time and space allowed to focus solely on the project. They spent two days working on the grant application and the final day laying the foundations for a scoping review looking at school-based mental health interventions for migrant CYP with a particular focus on accessibility. The scoping review is currently underway, and the research team plans to submit it for publication in early 2023.  

If successful on their bid, the Nuffield funded project will start in September 2023, and it will employ a mixed-methods design to map the accessibility and efficacy of school-based mental health support for secondary-aged migrants. This will involve working collaboratively with migrant CYP and educational and mental health practitioners to develop appropriate, accessible research tools through co-production.

In-depth interviews will be conducted with 15-20 secondary-aged migrant children and young people. Interview analysis will follow, and it will shape a survey designed for 100 educational and mental health practitioners. The project, overseen from the outset by a specialist advisory board, will culminate in two multi-stakeholder hybrid workshops, which will present policy and practice recommendations to improve mental health support in schools for migrant CYP. The research team also intends to disseminate the project’s findings via a short video animation, presentations at academic conferences, journal publications, and a freely available report with recommendations informed by migrant young people.  

The team is extremely grateful to the CYP Wellbeing Network for the opportunity to discuss the project with network members from other disciplines, including Dr Kristin Liabo from the Medical School, and Dr Janet Smithson from Psychology who joined the team as a co-investigator. The links to collaboration went beyond academia and the team have now established partnerships with local and national organisations such as The Bell Foundation and Refugee Education UK. The CYP Wellbeing Network’s support allowed them to develop their ideas into a concrete research proposal and they look forward to working closely with colleagues across the network to benefit from the extensive expertise and experience that the network draws together.  
 
Please email Katie Howard for further information about the project.