'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast

Latest Episodes:

Sluggish Cognitive tempo; circadian preference, sleep, and daytime sleepiness Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19594
In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Joey Fredrick, a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio, USA, to tackle the question ‘Is sluggish cognitive tempo associated with circadian preference, sleep, and daytime sleepiness in adolescence?’. Joey is the first author of a paper on this topic published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP).
To set the scene, Joey provides us with an insight into what sluggish cognitive tempo is, before turning to his co-authored JCPP paper ‘A multi method examination of sluggish cognitive tempo in relation to adolescent sleep, daytime sleepiness, and circadian preference’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13568). Joey explores what he looked at in this study, provides us with a summary, and details the methodology that he used.
With adolescence being the ‘perfect storm’ for sleep issues, Joey details how he differentiated between normal adolescent sleep patterns and those who have sluggish cognitive tempo.
Joey then shares the findings from his paper and explains what the implications of these findings are for professionals working with young people and their families.
Furthermore, Joey also comments on whether he is planning some follow-up research and provides an insight into what else is in the pipeline for him.

Creative Methods and Digital Media: Supporting Psychological Therapies Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19507
In this podcast, we are joined by Professor Lina Gega, professor of mental health at the University of York and honorary nurse consultant in psychological therapies at Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust. Lina is also a joint editor of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) journal, one of the three journals produced by the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Lina sets the scene by providing an insight into how she came to specialise in cognitive behavioural therapy and digital mental health, as well as what makes digital media so applicable to child and adolescent mental health.
With the COVID pandemic having been an accelerator for digital technologies, Lina discusses her recently published paper on the impact of digital technology during the pandemic, including what conclusions she drew and how this impacts children and young people.
Lina also talks us through her work on several interesting projects and provides insight into their aims, plus findings. For a number of her projects, Lina has teamed up with colleagues from outside of academia to develop prototypes for digital tools for children with different emotional vulnerabilities.
Lina discusses what barriers and challenges she has faced when translating research into practise and explores how to overcome these to make a real difference to families.
Furthermore, as Lina has published over 70 papers, books, and book chapters, plus has worked with publishers, universities, NHS services, charities, and grant-awarding bodies as a research advisor and reviewer, Lina shares her advice for researchers, in particular those early in their careers who want to achieve and maintain high standards in the conduct and reporting of research.

Adolescent Sleep: Stereotypes and Misunderstandings Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19446
For this podcast, focusing on adolescent sleep, we are joined by celebrated neuroscientist Dr. Dean Burnett, author of The Idiot Brain and a speaker at a February 2022 live stream event, The enigma of adolescent sleep: misunderstood science and effective intervention.
Dean sets the scene by exploring whether there is a typical teenage sleep pattern and if so, how this compares to an adult sleep pattern.
Dean then provides insight into the impact that the stereotypes of teenagers as being lazy, staying up all night, and being a bit delinquent can have, as well as what aspects of the science around adolescent sleep are misunderstood.
Dean also explains how we should be supporting our adolescents who naturally might sleep at different times to us, and shares an insight into what societal and policy changes could be implemented to support adolescent sleep.
Dean talks to us about the impact of insufficient sleep on behaviour, ability to study, and on mental health; exploring the comorbidity with sleep problems and anxiety and depression, as well as whether the relationship between sleep problems and psychopathology is bidirectional.
Furthermore, Dean shares his advice to people with adolescent children who struggle with sleep, to those who work with children and young people, as well as to young people themselves. This includes tips for getting to sleep, and what point you should call for professional support to help a young person who’s struggling with their sleep.

Student Mental Health and What CAMH Professionals Need to Know Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19313
TRIGGER WARNING: Please be aware that this podcast discusses personal experiences of self-harm and suicide.

This University Mental Health Day, we are joined by two students, Rhiannon Hawkins and Nathan Randles, to discuss student mental health and what CAMH professionals need to know.
Rhiannon currently studies Geography at the University of Oxford and Nathan is a medical student at Keele University. Both Rhiannon and Nathan are also Young Representatives for the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Rhiannon and Nathan set the scene by providing insight into what University Mental Health Day is, why it is so important, and what the impact of the pandemic has been on student mental health.
Rhiannon and Nathan talk to us about their own personal history and experience around mental health. They discuss their own past experiences with child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and whether this support is still available as a student. Rhiannon also explores whether there is still stigma around students using mental health services at university and why some students may not access support.
Whilst both Rhiannon and Nathan describe quite robust systems of support within their own universities, they share their views on what else universities should be doing to support the mental health of their students, what message they have for policy makers, and what mental health professionals need to know about student mental health.
Furthermore, Rhiannon and Nathan discuss what message CAMHS professionals should take from University Mental Health Day and share how CAMHS professionals can get involved.

From University to Research: A Conversation with an Aspiring Academic Psychiatrist Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19272
For this podcast, we are delighted to interview aspiring academic psychiatrist Clara Faria, winner of the ACAMH 2021 Undergraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year Award and ACAMH’s first Young Person’s Ambassador.

Clara sets the scene by providing insight into what it meant to her to be recognised as ACAMH’s 2021 Undergraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year, as well as being named as the first ACAMH Young Person’s Ambassador.
Having been previously divided between doing paediatrics and psychiatric training due to her interest in working with children, Clara talks us through how she resolved this conflict and discusses how she became involved with research in mental health, her role as a research assistant at the Laboratory of Panic and Respiration, and how this sparked her interest in child and adolescent mental health.
Clara also explores how she balanced the combination of work, research, and study during her undergraduate studies, and shares tips for others who are following a similar path.
Clara talks to us about her current work on two different main projects. The first is a systematic review predicting factors in ADHD diagnosis at the University of Southampton, and the latter is a genome-wide association study of anxiety disorders in Brazil. Clara discusses what her role is in both projects and provides an insight into what each project entails.
Furthermore, as Clara’s research encompasses both the UK and Brazil, Clara explores what insights she has gained from this exposure to different demographic groups and different health systems, as well as why it is so important in the field of child and adolescent mental health to disseminate evidence-based science to the broader population.

Fire starting; early intervention and education Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19158
For this podcast, we are honoured to be joined by criminologist Joanna Foster. Joanna has managed the London Fire Brigade Firesetters Intervention Scheme and now runs fabtic, a company specialising in fire setting behaviour by children.
Joanna provides insight into how common fire starting is in children, as well as at what age children start setting fires, and whether fire setting is different for young children and teenagers.
Joanna talks us through whether the prevalence, and risk, of fire starting is the same for boys and girls and explores what the evidence shows regarding why children and young people start fires, including why fire can be seen as a form of expression.
Joanna examines how we can identify a child who is at risk of setting fires, and discusses whose job is it to identify these children at risk, as well as what more need to be done to best support families affected by this.
Furthermore, Joanna shares her advice to parents and carers who are worried that their children are at risk of fire setting, or who are already setting fires, as well as her advice to children and young people who set fires. Joanna highlights an important message for policy makers and suggests useful resources for those listening.

The long-term cost of childhood conduct problems Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19121
In this podcast, we talk to Dr. Eila Kankaanpää, senior lecturer in health economics at the University of Eastern Finland.
The focus of this podcast is on the JCPP paper, ‘The long-term cost of childhood conduct problems: Finnish Nationwide 1981 Birth Cohort Study’ (doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13506).
Eila is a co-author of the paper and sets the scene by providing insight into her current role and what prompted her research in child and adolescent mental health.
Eila talks us through what her paper looks at, what the costs associated with conduct problems in childhood include, highlights the methodology used, and shares some of the key findings.
Eila provides further insight into her conclusion that the high costs justify the development and evaluation of interventions for childhood conduct problems. Eila then discusses what she would like to see done about this, as well as what area of research she would like to see being focused on.
Furthermore Eila mentions what message policymakers should take from her findings, what the implications are for practitioners, and what professionals working with young people and their families should also take from her findings.

CAMH services, integrative methods, and quality improvement Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.19061
For this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Sundar Gnanavel, Specialty Doctor CAMHS at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, and winner of ACAMH’s 2021 Postgraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year Award.
Sundar sets the scene by providing insight into how he came to be interested in child and adolescent mental health, and what it meant to him to have received recognition for his work by winning ACAMH’s 2021 Postgraduate Clinical Trainee of the Year award.
Passionate about teaching clinical psychiatry and using integrative methods, Sundar shares some of the methods that have proved successful, as well as what improvements he would like to see in the delivery of child and adolescent mental health services, and what changes are needed to enable this to happen.
Sundar details insights he has gained from exposure to different health care systems and different child and adolescent populations, having worked both in developing and developed countries, before talking about his co-authored paper exploring the challenges that COVID has presented to child and adolescent mental health researchers and, in particular, early careerists.

Parenting for lifelong health for young children Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18958
In this podcast, we talk to Professor Catherine Ward of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and winner of ACAMH’s Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) Journal Best Paper Award 2021.
Catherine, and colleagues, won ACAMH’s 2021 award for JCPP Journal Best Paper for their paper, published in 2020, on ‘Parenting for lifelong health for young children: A randomized controlled trial of a parenting program in South Africa to prevent harsh parenting and child conduct problems’. Catherine sets the scene by explaining what winning the award meant to her, and what, in her view, made the trial itself, and the paper, so successful.
Catherine details her work involving evidence-based approaches designed to reduce the likelihood of children becoming aggressive, and provides insight into another key strand of her work, which focuses on preventing child maltreatment and understanding the epidemiology of risk factors faced by South African children.
Catherine then talks about her co-authored edited volume ‘Youth Violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa’ and discusses how you can go about adapting this kind of evidence base to have a global reach, including surface adaptations and substantive adaptations, as well as how you can really make a difference.
Furthermore, Catherine explores what more she would like to see being done to disseminate and promote evidence-based research, as well as to include influencing policymakers.

Mental Health Inequality, and Disparity, in an Unequal World Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.18898
In this podcast, we are joined by Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Aisha Sanober Chachar, who is co-founder and Director of Synapse, Pakistan Neuroscience Institute. Aisha has a special interest in transcultural child and adolescent psychiatry.
Having worked as a clinician in Pakistan, and having had her clinical rotations as a trainee in Nigeria and the UK, Aisha sets the scene by talking us through her journey from academia, to not-for-profit, to mental health entrepreneurship.
Aisha provides insight into the global dearth in CAMH specialists, deficits in health training around the world, the impact that COVID has had in terms of global child mental health inequality; and how do these health disparities affect children and families.
Aisha talks us through, in her view, the difference between adult and child mental health in an unequal world, and how we can foster a more global approach to address disparities and inequalities within child and adolescent mental health.
Furthermore, Aisha also discusses what child and adolescent mental health professionals can do to highlight or alleviate health inequalities; as well as what parents, schools, and other stakeholders can do too.

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