About us at the Paediatric Mental Health Science Strategic Initiative
Who are we?
We are a unique interdisciplinary grouping of experts without parallel in the UK, dedicated to fostering research into child mental health and the application of that expertise to children with physical health problems. We bring together expertise in chronic illness, rare diseases, neurodevelopmental conditions and brain disorders.
What do we mean by mental health?
We use a very broad definition of “Mental Health”, which includes work related to understanding the brain and mind, and conditions such as dementia, depression and schizophrenia.
What do we offer?
The ICH Paediatric Mental Health Sciences Initiative aims to increase the visibility of and to raise awareness about mental health expertise within the ICH and GOSH by:
·Bringing researchers whose work touches on mental health issues together·Sharing mental health funding opportunities·Organising seminars on paediatric mental health science
Keep up to date on mental health events, resources and funding opportunities on our teams channel here.
Steering Committee Chairs
Roz Shafran is a Professor of Translational Psychology at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She is an honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist, a member of the Health Professions Council and Fellow of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. Roz founded the Charlie Waller Institute of Evidenced Based Psychological Treatment in 2007 at the University of Reading and was its director until 2012. She is an advisor for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, Patron of 'No Panic' and recipient of prizes such as the BMJ Mental Health Team of the Year, Positive Practice 'Making a Difference' Award, British Psychological Society Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in Practice and Marsh Award for Mental Health for research that has made a difference to clinical practice. In addition to academic clinical research publications, Roz have co-authored and co-edited four self-help books, the most recent is 'How to Cope When Your Child Can't: Comfort, help and hope for parents’.
He devised the computerized 3di interview for Autism Spectrum Disorders, which is used by over 20 countries worldwide, many in translation. He has played a key role in the development of revised criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders in the 11th Revision of the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases. Currently, his research is identifying rare genetic risk factors that increase the risk of psychiatric disorders, especially autism, in children with intellectual disability.
He has served on many editorial boards. Formerly Editor of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry; he now edits the British Journal of Psychiatry - International. He has been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Jeanne is currently investigating changes in the mental health and behaviour of children with rare genetic disorders in the national IMAGINE ID study (Intellectual Disability and Mental Health: Assessing the Genomic Impact on Neurodevelopment). Jeanne is a co-investigator on the Children’s Autism Technology Assisted Assessments (CHATA) project which aims to digitise autism assessment procedures for families from diverse ethnic backgrounds. She has also received a Child Mental Health Research Strategic Grant to co-produce a digital mental health intervention for children with rare genetic disorders and irritability.