#KindnessMatters, but is it enough?

Dan Robotham discusses this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week

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Appreciating kindness a whole new way

Humma Andleeb reflects on a podcast by Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Dr David Hamilton about kindness, and how we can continue to find opportunities to be kind during lockdown

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COVID LIFE: Expressions of our experiences

What happens to our mental health during a public health crisis? Together with a team of peer-researchers, Covid Life will explore the impact of the pandemic 

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Don’t forget about perinatal mental health during Covid

This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.  During Covid, when normal human contact is not allowed, it has never been more important to remember those who may slip through the cracks

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Supporting mental health carers: will it get easier to roll out digital NHS interventions?

Pre-Covid-19, implementing the first digital mental health intervention in the NHS proved tough, despite enthusiasm. What we learnt could be useful with our new way of working, say Julie Billsborough and Sheena Foster

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“Excruciating back pain while self-isolating alone”: life in a time of Covid-19

Julie McWilliam talks about the indirect effects of the pandemic and not being able to let her daughters help

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“I wish I could tell the scriptwriter they’ve gone too far”: life in a time of Covid-19

Gary Coyle shares some thoughts on life in lockdown and the memories it is bringing up

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“Making art has helped me in dark times, including now”: life in a time of Covid-19

Finding a way to lose oneself in the joy that comes from transforming something humble into something new can help with the uncertainty of this time

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Radical collaboration, common sense & a focus on inequality: McPin’s response to the Covid mental health roadmap

The Lancet paper published today is a rapid response to an unfolding, unprecedented situation. Understanding the role and limits of research in addressing Covid’s mental health impact needs careful consideration and the input of many voices

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#PPIcovid19: Making space for lived experience in Covid research

Good involvement in research takes time. And when there isn’t time – it can degenerate into tokenism or not happen at all. We must not let that happen with Covid-19 research, says Thomas Kabir

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I miss Wonder Woman: how do I bring the office home with me?

Due to COVID-19 many people will be working from home. Clare Walsby writes about missing the office and its inhabitants, and what small changes you can make during this difficult time

 

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Unfair society, unhealthy lives? Inequality and health in 2020

The publication of the latest Marmot review is depressing. It puts in writing what everyone in the mental health field knows already

 

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My action plan to stay well while working at home

Work really helps my mental health by providing me with structure, routine and social interaction, writes Kathryn Watson. Here are her tips for working from home during this time

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“It was a real lifeline”: evaluation of MumsAid shows the value of specialist perinatal care

Women really benefited from the non-judgemental counselling they received from the maternal mental health support service, says Laura Wood, a researcher whose own experience informed the evaluation

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Commissioning research, creating a legacy

Words That Carry On, a fund established in memory of Lindsay Riddoch, is commissioning research that contributes to supporting people with a diagnosis of personality disorder and autism. Fiona, Lindsay’s mum, describes their journey so far

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Involving peers can enrich research when it’s done right

What factors are important for peer researchers to have in common with research participants? We asked Sarah Markham, an advisory group member, about her involvement in the evaluation of Women Side by Side

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It is time to close the mental health gap that autistic women experience

Autistic people deserve good mental health just as much as their non-autistic peers. Jenn Layton Annable, an autistic woman and master’s student, explains why good quality co-produced research is needed to address this

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New conversations, VR and more money for young people: looking back on 2019

With the December holidays fast approaching, Vanessa Pinfold reflects on the rollercoaster ride that was 2019 at the McPin Foundation

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What if family and friend carers could be equal partners in mental health care?

The Triangle of Care helps NHS Trusts to better involve and support family and friend carers in their loved one’s care. Vanessa Pinfold heard from participating Trusts and carers about a culture change that is still unfolding

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10 things we learnt working at the interface between virtual reality, involvement and mental health research

With digital mental health research now encompassing virtual reality treatments, we must learn how to effectively work with service users in this arena. Read More

Principles tell us what good peer support for new mums looks like

Putting lived experience at the heart of a project about perinatal peer support has been key to its success, says Laura Wood Read More

Who do you involve when researching public mental health?

Laura E. Fischer explains why recruiting a team of co-researchers based upon ‘expertise by experience’ of public mental health is such a complex task and the guiding principles that helped

 

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Mental Health and Money Advice shows impact of joined up thinking

Mental Health and Money Advice is one of the first services in the UK to address these two interconnecting issues. It was inspiring to evaluate the service, says Lisa Couperthwaite, and hear the impact it has made on people's lives.

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Fundraising for McPin: 300 miles to better mental health

David Bowman is running the Great South Run in aid of McPin. Here he explains how taking up regular exercise has improved his life

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What can women’s peer support projects teach us about being gender responsive and trauma-informed?

Andreja Mesaric, the project lead at McPin, outlines how we are evaluating a peer support programme for women who experience multiple disadvantage

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We asked survivors of abuse to set the research agenda… are we willing to listen?

The violence and abuse research priorities make for uncomfortable reading but the only way to make things better is to hear and respond to what survivors are telling us, says Concetta Perôt

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Myth-busting through art: Designing a mental health audio tour for the National Gallery

Members of McPin’s Young People’s Network have co-created an audio tour that use artworks to dispel common mental health misconceptions. Here, Hannah Roberts, explains why she was keen to get involved

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5 things I learnt from working with the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network

While identifying research priorities for the network, Dan Robotham learnt a lot about abuse, how to involve survivors and how frustrating it is that their voices aren’t at the forefront of research and services in this area

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7 ways to improve wellbeing at work

This Happiness at Work week, Operations Manager Clare Walsby takes you on a whistle-stop tour of the things that have helped make the McPin office a more enjoyable place to be

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Applying common sense to show the benefits of relevant lived experience

One of the questions that people often ask about involvement is whether it makes any difference. If so, where is the evidence? Dan Robotham responds

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“Safer on the streets than at home”: women’s stories of homelessness

Gary Coyle, a peer researcher at McPin Foundation, reflects on a book that shows the stark reality of women experiencing homelessness through personal accounts. Read his moving review of Bekki Perriman's ‘Doorways: Women, Homelessness, Trauma and Resistance’.

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“Wrestling some power back for the women”: My experiences researching medication decision-making in pregnancy

Charlotte Walker was a peer researcher on a study looking at how women make decisions about taking psychotropic medications during pregnancy. She reflects on the strong bonds formed with participants and frustrations with the academic dissemination process

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“Who will support my son when I am gone?” What needs to change for carers

Research isn't the only thing that could make life better for carers. Money, common sense and clear leadership to implement the changes we all know are needed would go along way, found Vanessa Pinfold at an emotionally charged workshop on caring and mental health

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Sharing power in a complex mental health research programme

John Gibson, a service user researcher, reflects on his experiences as a member of a lived experience advisory panel and then as part of the university’s research team

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How to break down power structures in coproduced research

It is Co-production Week and the theme is sharing power, something that is central to the very definition of co-production. But what does this look like in reality?

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User-testing VR for psychosis: Making a safe space for people to gain confidence

As a student, Thomas Kabir wished he’d had a place to try out situations he found difficult. He explains why VR therapy for psychosis could be a gamechanger and why it is essential that people with psychosis are part of every phase of its development

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Imposter syndrome and Public Involvement: How to make it easier to speak up

Involving people with lived experience in research often requires them to give opinions in meetings. Our Public Involvement in Research Officer, Rachel Temple, draws on her experience as attendee and researcher to come up with ways to put people at ease

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Vloggers, K-pop and family dinners – how culture impacts on body image

 

Our guest blogger explores the social and culture factors that influence how young East Asians feel about their bodies

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“The YPAG gave me a totally different perspective”: a researcher on receiving young people’s feedback

Miriam Avery was nervous about presenting her research proposals to McPin’s Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG) but the experience helped her hone her research question and gave her fresh ideas of how to involve young people

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Why we all need a social media detox once in a while

Guest blogger Erin has been using Instagram since she was 10. She opens up about her social media use and her concerns that the lack of research means we don't yet know what its impact is

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Predatory publishing and peer research – why we need to prepare people

Academic spam can be funny if you know how to spot it. But those who are new to research can be sucked in and have their time wasted. We need to prepare people to hit delete, says Dan Robotham

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Whose idea is it anyway? Using research infrastructure to turn people’s ideas into projects

Connecting with others and working in partnership is a big part of McPin’s ethos. One of the best ways to do this is to visit people on their home turf. In February, our Deputy Research Director, Dan Robotham, went to see an initiative at the University of Cambridge that helps people’s research ideas get off the ground.

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We need a wider lens on equality in science than gender alone

On International Women's Day, our research director Vanessa Pinfold reflects on equality in the mental health research sector, inspirational women and the recent LancetWomen event 

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Mental health research – it is still underfunded

"There are significant gaps in terms of types of research being prioritised, the topics invested in and the health areas targeted": Research director, Vanessa Pinfold, discusses the key findings from MQ's latest look at the mental health funding landscape

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This Time to Talk Day, take time to time to listen

When someone opens up about their mental health difficulties, my personal experience and McPin's research into peer support, has taught me that the most valuable thing is to listen, says Rose Thomson

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Getting closer to our goal of more research into personality disorder & autism

In 2019, our partners Words that Carry On, will realise their ambition to commission research that will improve the lives of people with personality disorder and autism

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We need research into Relationship OCD so that it doesn’t ruin relationships

University student Rhianna shares her experiences of Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and why she is grateful she found a therapist who was already familiar with it Read More

Why do the Top 10 priorities for young people’s mental health need answering?

We revealed the Top 10 questions for young people's mental health research at the end of November. Since then, staff and members of our Young People’s Advisory Group have been reflecting on the importance of the questions. Here are a few edited extracts Read More

Not Quite Right, a play about the NHS, hits the right buttons

Audience participation helped explore how things could have been handled better, says Gary Coyle, who advised on script development Read More

Capturing the life stories of people living with psychosis

Researcher Gary Coyle explores alternative approaches in research that prioritises the personal stories, memories and broader life experiences of people living with psychosis. Read More

Let’s break the taboo and find out what helps young people on waiting lists

There is plenty of research on waiting lists, proving they are long and variable. What has been neglected is how people with mental health difficulties can be supported while they wait. This needs to change, says Thomas Kabir Read More

No more shiny things: Digital mental health priorities show e-health has grown up

Head of Research and Evaluation, Dan Robotham, reflects on what the Top 10 priorities for digital technology and mental health tell us about how we can use technology to address real (and timeless) areas of concern Read More

Universities need to find ways to prevent students reaching crisis point

Student mental health is in the spotlight and many universities have publicly stated that they are taking it seriously. That isn’t always how it feels on the ground, says Lucy Power, a first-year English Literature student Read More

Therapy without the therapist: what role should self-help play?

Exercise, meditation and self-help books: A self-directed approach to mental health won’t work for everyone but as Rachel Temple explains, she gained most of her tools from books. She explains why researching which self-management approaches are the most effective is vital Read More

Why we shouldn’t be scared to talk about how parents impact children’s mental health

The Right People, Right Questions project revealed a lack of research investigating the impact of parental attitudes, parenting styles and family relationships on young people's mental health. McPin's research director and mum of two girls, Vanessa Pinfold, reflects on why this needs to change Read More

Children and Young People’s Research Priorities

Screening, suicide and support while on waiting lists: the questions children and young people want answered about their mental health...   The Right People, Right Questions project set out to identify gaps in research on children and young people’s mental health, as identified by children and young people, parents, teachers, mental health and social work professionals, and researchers. The output is a list of the Top 10 most important questions not conclusively answered by research. Read More

Involvement on the curriculum

I was incredulous. How could we allow a master’s student to complete an entire module on global mental health assuming “involvement in research” meant “involvement as a subject of research”? This wasn’t a failure by the student; it was our failure as educators. Read More

What is Eco-Anxiety and what can we do about it?

We all know what climate change is and the effects it’s having on the planet. But what about the effects it’s having on our mental health?

Having concerns about the environment is perfectly natural and it is never a bad thing to be more aware of your surroundings and the impact we are having.

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Five year forward view – a backwards step at a mental health conference.

By Vanessa Pinfold

I recently attended a mental health conference, reflecting on talks delivered by national policy leaders, voluntary sector providers and others exploring progress on delivering the five year forward view for mental health. NHS England, Public Health England, Department of Health, NHS mental health provider’s forum, charities were all represented.

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Exercise and mental health

We know that exercise is good for mental health… so why aren’t we doing it? This blog from our Public Involvement Officer and Researcher, Rachel explores why people might not be utilising the power of exercise to maintain and improve our mental health and wellbeing. Read More

Poacher turned gamekeeper

By Dr Sam Robertson Initially, I suffered severe post-natal depression after the birth of my son. This ended my career as a teacher and started a period of nearly twenty years as a service user of mental health services. However, being encouraged to get involved in service user and carer activities helped me back into the world. From a very a small and slow start, service user involvement has supported me in so many ways including helping to rebuild my confidence and to develop a more positive identity.  It has been part of my individual recovery journey – has given me a sense of purpose.  It has contributed to what I do now as someone who has something to offer. Read More

New service user peer review programme launched

McPin has joined with The Lancet Psychiatry to train people who use mental health services to become service-user reviewers for the journal. New peer reviewers will be the first from the UK to take part in this new partnership and they will have the opportunity to see and comment on new findings and influence what is published.

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Digital Technology and Mental Health

Digital technology is playing a more dominant role in our lives every day. It’s time we explore its potential through the internet, smartphones, and wearables to bridge the mental health treatment gap. Can the use of digital technology help with the lack of funding and mental health services?

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Co-production in Research: Barriers and Solutions

By Vanessa Pinfold

Here at the McPin Foundation, we are pleased to support the third year of the Social Care Institute for Excellence’ (SCIE) co-production week and its focus on learning. This year has seen the introduction of co-production in research principles from INVOLVE.

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Maternal mental health peer support

The NHS has recently announced it will be committing an extra £1.6million to help mothers with mental health issues during or after pregnancy. With maternal mental health problems affecting up to a fifth of all women, research has shown that peer support can help mums receive the emotional and practical support needed during this time.

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Macmillan Peer Evaluator Training

Brighton September – October 2017 and May 2018

 

Co-design and co-delivery are part of the ethos of the McPin Foundation. We have just completed our second successful three-day training for Peer Evaluators with Macmillan cancer support. Running the training a second time gave us the freedom to improve and develop materials and content from the first time around.

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Object-based storytelling can help start a conversation about mental health

Kat Berry

Object-based storytelling can help start a conversation about mental health. A pop-up exhibition by the Soul Relics Museum during Mental Health Awareness week aimed to do just that using photographs of a wide range of objects that have held special significance to their owners during times of distress.

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Interviewing Peter Fonagy

A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to interview Peter Fonagy as part of the #LetsTalkMentalHealth series by Louise Arseneault. Peter is a renowned clinical psychologist specialising in early attachment disorder and borderline personality disorder and CEO of the Anna Freud centre.

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Service User and Carer Involvement Research Award

Mental health research experts from across the country came together at a national awards event to celebrate the very best examples of service user and carer involvement in mental health research studies and find out the winners of the NIHR CRN, McPin Foundation & MQ Service User and Carer Involvement Awards 2018.

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Mental Health Awareness Week 2018: are awareness dates useful for mental health?

 

Stress is a normal bodily response, but is usually considered a negative feeling. Stress is a major factor in survival and is an important part of the ‘flight or fight response’, which makes us react to dangerous situations such as moving out of the way of a reversing car.

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Soul Relics Museum

 

The Soul Relics Museum project will be having a pop-up exhibitions in the SGDP for a month from 16th April – 20th May 2018

The Soul Relics Museum collects photographs of objects which relate to a time of personal struggle with mental wellbeing.

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Words That Carry On: Lindsay’s Fund

 

On Saturday afternoon (24/3/2018) I went by bus across London to the memorial service of an amazing person I had never met, but wish I had. Lindsay Riddoch, who died on the eve of her 25^th Birthday – late December 2017 – when she ended her life and her battle with mental health issues.

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When two cultures collide: The reality of being British Asian

Disclaimer: this blog post is an exploration of mental health issues within the south Asian community, and is not intended to disregard the positives of being British Asian.

Racial discrimination is an issue that manifests in multiple ways and affects most people of BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) background.

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Psychosis and the Mortality Gap

Did you know that people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar or psychosis have a life expectancy lower than twenty years compared to the general population? This is a shocking statistic and more needs to be done to support the physical health needs of this group of people.

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Celebrating Public Participation in Mental Health Research

Mental health researchers who place emphasis on service user, carer and public involvement within their studies have been encouraged to apply for a national award which celebrates the vital role that the public have to play in shaping and improving health studies.

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Social Anxiety: More than Shyness

Before Christmas, Radio presenter Iain Lee discussed his experiences of mental health difficulties on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. In particular, he talked about how living with social anxiety affects his daily interactions, especially in groups of people.

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Developing peer support in the community: A toolkit

We have a new toolkit to use, launched in early December by Mind based upon work carried out by an evaluation team I know well at the McPin Foundation and St George’s, University of London. They had spent 2 years evaluating the Side by Side community peer support programme initiated by Mind and funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

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Can we turn more scientific discoveries into practical health benefits for everyone?

A framework for mental health research was released by the Department of Health on 7^th December 2017. It sets out a vision for how, over the next 10 years, we can progress understanding of prevention, care and treatment through investment in mental health research.

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Our Yearly Round Up

McPin will be marking its 5 year anniversary in our current form. Before this the charity had no members of staff. It was essentially a grant making charity. The most important aspect of our work is working alongside people with mental health problems as colleagues, advisors and friends of the charity.

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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Insomnia

A good night’s sleep is a key part of a healthy lifestyle. Several years ago, I was involved in writing a report for Mental Health Awareness Week, based on findings from the Great British Sleep Survey. The report argued that insomnia and poor sleep were public health concerns.

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A framework for mental health research – what next?

We have been involved over the past 18 months in the development of a 10 year strategy for mental health research in the UK. Developing such a strategy was one of the recommendations in the 2016 Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report. 

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INVOLVE at 21

Last week we attended a public involvement conference organised by INVOLVE.  INVOLVE was originally set up by the Department of Health in 1996. It remains one of the oldest Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) organisations in the world. We had a stand promoting our own work championing expertise from experience in mental health research.

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Bipolar research – working together to decide which outcomes matter.

When researchers are developing a study that involves a trial in order to compare treatment A to treatment B, they need to decide on what outcomes to measure. Often this is through a series of questionnaires with research participants and sometimes through tests like measuring weight, blood tests or saliva samples.

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Managing stress: It’s personal

Today is International Stress Awareness Day, I thought I’d share my personal ways of coping with stress and highlight while there are underlying themes to some of these coping techniques, the exact measure we employ are likely to be personal to our own preferences.

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Friends in Europe: A mental health conference with a difference

A warm welcome awaited me when I arrived at the European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation (more commonly referred to as ENMESH) recently. ENMESH develops and maintains a network of active researchers in mental health service research in Europe. I met service users and carers, junior researchers, professors and international policy experts.

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Sweating it out for mental health research

Kat Berry, Operations Manager at the McPin Foundation talks to us about her 30 DAY hot yoga challenge and why she’s raising money for mental health research.

 

Where did the idea to do hot yoga for 30 days come from?

I’ve always wanted to do the 30 day challenge but I have always found an excuse not to – either the time commitment or just the fear of knowing how tough it was going to be held me back.

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Mental Health Act Review – Our Response

On 4 October 2017, Theresa May announced an independent review into the Mental Health Act. 

In response, Vanessa Pinfold, Research Director and Co-Founder of the McPin Foundation, says:

“We welcome the review of the outdated Mental Health Act (MHA). This legislation, as it stands, creates a key barrier for parity of esteem between the treatment of physical health and mental health problems and impedes on our compliance with Human Rights Act.

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Workplace wellbeing: a no-brainer?

Taking steps to enhance wellbeing in the workplace seems like a no-brainer. It can improve productivity, create happy teams and generally make Monday mornings feel worth getting out of bed for. If you are contending with mental health problems, it can make finding your workplace ‘zen’ even more pressing yet, unfortunately, harder to achieve.

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Another step forward – Research into wellbeing networks

The places we go, the things we like to do and the people we know all play an important contribution to our wellbeing. Yet, this is not a key focus of current clinical mental health interventions. We are hoping our research will change this.

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Involving young people in research

By Nhung

At the McPin Foundation, we’re always talking about involving those with lived experience in research. This is sometimes referred to as Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research. In this blog I discuss what PPI has meant for one of our projects, Right People, Right Questions, from three staff members who are involved in the project (myself, Lauren and Thomas).

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Are Coercion and Co-Production Compatible?

I was fortunate to attend a very stimulating seminar entitled ‘Co-production in Coercive Environments’ on 6^th July 2017 at the University of Huddersfield. The key question for the seminar was the possibility, or impossibility, of co-production in the conditions of detention under the Mental Health Act (MHA).

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Refugee and migrant inclusion in community mental health project evaluation

Refugees and migrants experience poorer mental health outcomes compared to native-born populations. This can be due to traumatic experiences of persecution or dangerous journeys to the UK as well as stresses of adapting to a new environment including social isolation, language barriers, and various forms of discrimination.

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Being a part of the Right People, Right Questions ‘Young People’s Advisory Group’.

Before becoming involved in any of the McPin Foundation’s work, I had originally held a position on the NHS Hertfordshire Young Peoples Mental Health Council. I was actively involved in a process which enabled those at the “bottom” (the service user or carer) unlike those in top positions (the clinician and institutional researcher) to have a voice in transforming the way we treat and understand young people’s mental health.

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Social media: The next big thing in research?

With the boom of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the use of social media in research has received much attention in recent years. As some of our keen-eyed followers may have noticed, we’ve been using social media to spread the word about a survey as part of the Right People, Right Questions project.

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Everyone’s business: research councils unite on mental health

Last week, the UK research councils published their agenda for working in partnership on mental health research. For me, it is interesting to see how mental health has united all seven research councils, not just the traditional “key players” like the Medical Research Council (MRC, who have their own mental health research strategy) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

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Men’s mental health: Research into online stress support for men

Research consistently finds that men are less likely than women to reach out for support for their mental health, or even recognise it as a problem. In June 2016, The Men’s Health Forum created ‘Beat Stress Online’ to offer an anonymous and confidential chat support and signposting service for men experiencing difficulties with mental health such as stress, anger and depression.

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Evaluating the Side by Side peer support programme

Over the last 2 years the McPin foundation has been working with St Georges University of London and the London School of Economics to evaluate the Side by Side programme of peer support. Funded by the Big Lottery and delivered by a collaboration between Mind, Bipolar UK and a number of smaller organisations, it aimed to make peer support available to people across nine regions in England.

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Finding the right people to ask the right questions: new survey on young people’s mental health  

What do we really know about young people’s mental health? We know it’s a big issue. Around 1 in 10 young people have experienced a mental health difficulty. Around 75% of people with a mental health problem start developing it before the age of 18¹.

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Research in the News

When we wrote our last ‘Research in the News’ update in early April the General Election was not even in prospect. It’s fair to say that there has been a lot of news since. The jury is still out on the impact it will have on mental health research.

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RideLondon 2018 – ride for Mental Health research!

Are you up for a challenge? Do you want to raise money for life-saving mental health research?  McPin has places for RideLondon 2018 and we would love for you to join our team. Over the last three years our riders have raised thousands of pounds to support life-saving mental health research, and had great fun doing it.

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“Good Work” and good mental health

Our jobs are central to many of our lives. They provide us with money; but also social interaction, an identity, a sense of worth or value. It is not surprising that our work and our mental health are often inter-connected. Generally unemployment is bad for your mental health.

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“The question is not if patients should be remunerated, but how”

This recent BMJ blog explores the topic of paying patients to advise on health research, policy and service design. I was surprised to discover that there was still a debate about whether to pay patients or not!

The question of whether to pay people who bring ‘expertise from experience’ to research is nothing new.

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Why I’m doing Ride London to support Mental Health Research

Our policy manager Ian writes about why he is doing RideLondon, and the special challenges of doing it whilst in recovery from anorexia.

‘You are MAD…’

That was my Mum’s response to the news that I am doing RideLondon 100 mile bike ride at the end of July.

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Trauma Informed Approaches: talk and discussion led by Beth Filson

 

2.30-4.30pm Tuesday, July 11^th, 2017. The McPin Foundation, 32-36 Loman St, SE1 0EH

View event flyer

About the event

McPin are delighted to welcome the internationally renowned Beth Filson to speak on the topic of Trauma Informed Approaches in mental health.

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Using Lived Experience in Evaluating Mental Health Peer Support

This essay was originally published as the afterword to the early research findings of the evaluation of the Side by Side programme. In it the researchers who used their lived experience of mental health problems and peer support whilst working on the evaluation reflect on how including that expertise from experience strengthened the research. 

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Manifesto Commitments To Mental Health Research Are Great – Action Will Be Even Better.

We have reached the stage of the General Election were the main parties have published their manifestos and charities check whether their issues have made the cut. When the election was called we worked with the Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders to send a joint letter to all the parties setting out the case for including mental health research in their manifestos (read it here).

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Thriving or surviving? Our work on personal wellbeing network mapping to help people thrive #MHAW17

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme ‘Thriving or Surviving?’ is a reminder that good mental health and wellbeing is about more than the absence of a mental health problem, but the opportunity to live a full and meaningful life. This means more than simply ‘getting by’, or managing symptoms of mental distress, but supporting people to thrive and flourish – develop positive resources for mental health such as resilience, social support, and a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.

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Collaboration between MHRUK & the McPIN Foundation

Mental Health Research UK (MHRUK) and the McPin Foundation have agreed to formalise our existing close working relationship to deliver our shared mission to transform mental health research; MHRUK through funding PhD studentships and McPin by ensuring research involves people affected by mental health issues in the design and delivery of studies.

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Our Evaluation News

 

Over the last few weeks we’ve been giving our website a bit of a spring clean. As part of that we’ve added a new page showcasing the work we do for partner organisations including our work on evaluations. This is a growing part of what we do, helping other organisations to understand what impact their work is having and how it can be improved.

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Depression: Let’s Talk (About How We Talk About It)

Today (7 April) is World Health Day, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO). They have picked the theme of “Depression: Let’s Talk”.

It would be easy to be cynical. Yet another campaign about talking about mental health. Between Time to Talk Day and the new HeadsTogether campaign it feels like we are not short of people urging us to open up about our mental wellbeing.

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The glass ceiling of Patient and Public Involvement

In his first blog for us our new Head of Research and Evaluation Dan Robotham explains one of the reasons he decided to join McPin.

Health and social care research has a good public image. Polls suggest that university-based researchers are trusted by up to 90% of the public (Ispos Mori, 2014).

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Why we should include everyone and everywhere in mental health research

Our new policy briefing Everywhere and Everyone Included? describes the wide disparities in the research activity of NHS mental health trusts in England. This is despite the government’s commitments to create a “culture of innovation and research that is embedded at every level” of the NHS, with a “workforce that embraces research and innovation”.

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Everywhere and Everyone Included? – The Government must do more to make a reality of its ambitions on mental health research in the NHS

New analysis by the McPin Foundation shows that the Government’s commitment to create a “culture of innovation and research that is embedded at every level” in the NHS is far from being met in mental health services. Stronger national leadership and incentives are needed to support mental health trusts to invest in research. 

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“Yes, and” – mental health research funding needs both better evidence and better public and patient involvement

Ian examines a call for a new ’empirical’ approach to mental health research funding, and finds that the voice of people affected by mental health problems seems to be missing.

The Lancet Psychiatry published a comment piece last week arguing that in a ‘post-truth era’ mental health research funders should adopt a more ‘empirical’ approach to their work [requires registration].

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Summary of group discussions from our first methods workshop now available

We have produced a summary of the fascinating group discussions held during our first McPin Methods Workshop on 30^th November 2016. This workshop focused on integrating lived experience expertise within mental health research teams and groups discussed three questions, with key themes for each summarised in our report:

1. How might models for involving people with lived experience in research evolve?

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Run for McPin in Vitality London 2017

The McPin Foundation is looking for runners to take part in Vitality London 10k, to raise money for life-saving mental health research. The event takes places on 29^th May 2017, and we would love for you to join us!

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Priorities for research in young people’s mental health – ‘Right People, Right Questions’

The ‘Right People, Right Questions’ project has now launched its national survey which can be found here. We are looking to hear from young people with experience of a mental health problem, their parents or carers, their friends and family, the professionals that work with young people, or anyone else with an interest in young people’s mental health.

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Thrive Employment Survey

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Reacting to the Prime Minister’s speech on Mental Health

Today’s speech by the Prime Minister on mental health is important, but delivering her promises will need a new commitment to evidence and research.

My conclusion on mental health policy in 2016 was that we should see it as a glass half full.

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“Blooming” not “Blue” Monday – supporting real research into depression

Over the last decade or so the third Monday in January (the 16^th this year) has become known as ‘Blue Monday’, the most ‘depressing day of the year’.

As has been pointed out many times the science underpinning this claim is non-existent; the result of a formula made up to try and sell holidays.

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Lived experiences in research – opportunities and problems

The roles of a therapist and a research interviewer have different goals, but both involve personal conversations. And both challenge us to think about how we use our lived experience to facilitate a conversation, how it may affect what is said to us and how we interpret that

The researcher is often described as having power in an interview situation – she sets the agenda and guides the conversation, and may be perceived as having a more powerful status than the interviewee.

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Expertise from Experience in Peer Review – Dolly’s Experience

Earlier in the year MHRUK asked for our help in reviewing applications for three PhD Studentships. They wanted to strengthen the peer review process by including reviewers who could contribute their expertise from experience. We asked Gary, Dolly and Ryan to reflect on their experience of acting as reviewers, and we publish their blogs here.

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Expertise from Experience in Peer Review – Gary’s experience

Earlier in the year MHRUK asked for our help in reviewing applications for three PhD Studentships. They wanted to strengthen the peer review process by including reviewers who could contribute their expertise from experience. We asked Gary, Dolly and Ryan to reflect on their experience of acting as reviewers, and we publish their blogs here.

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Expertise from Experience in Peer Review – Ryan’s Experience

Earlier in the year MHRUK asked for our help in reviewing applications for three PhD Studentships. They wanted to strengthen the peer review process by including reviewers who could contribute their expertise from experience. We asked Gary, Dolly and Ryan to reflect on their experience of acting as reviewers, and we publish their blogs here.

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Research in 2016

To mark the end of 2016, we’re taking a look back at some of what the McPin team has learned over the past year.

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Mental health policy and research in 2016 – a glass half full?

At McPin we know that research and evidence are vital to improving the lives of people affected by mental health problems. But research does not take place in a vacuum. Decisions about what questions are seen as relevant, and what research (and how much) is funded are driven by people and how they respond to events in the outside world such as Brexit.

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Reflections on Patient and Public involvement (PPI) at McPin in 2016

This year has seen the expansion of our mental health science theme of work. We have engaged with scientists developing new treatments and testing them in research studies. Are these treatments that patients want? What are the ethical considerations of developing the treatment?

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McPin Methods

The 30th of November saw the first of what we will hope will be a series of methods workshops. It brought together over 70 researchers to discuss how to integrate ‘lived experience expertise in mental health research teams’. The event was massively oversubscribed and if the fact that we had to cut short discussions before we were physically kicked out of the venue is any guide, it succeeded in its aim of stimulating debate and the sharing of ideas.

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Service users needed to join the Mental Health and Justice study Service User Advisory Group (SUAG)

We are looking for eight people with personal experience of mental health problems to join a London based Service User Advisory Group (SUAG) for a new study entitled ‘Mental Health and Justice’. The study is about understanding what legal and other support people with mental health problems need to lead full and independent lives.

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Power, Capital & Control: Co-production in research

The subject of power and control within the field of social research has long held a fascination for me. Professionally as a social researcher; as a participant in social research; and finally as disability rights activist for the past 10 years.

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Using lived experience as a researcher can be “both a blessing and a curse”

Richard Currie is a researcher who is working with McPin on a number of projects that make use of both his research skills and his expertise from experience. In this brief video produced for our PPI in research week he talks with Rose about how he does this.

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Who is a peer anyway?

In this blog Rajvi reflects on the nature of the ‘peer’ in peer research. It is the latest in a series of personal reflections by McPin researchers on the use of lived experience of mental health problems  in research published as part of our week on Patient and Public Involvement in Research.  

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Public and patient involvement in research. Why not?

Thomas Kabir introduces the latest in our series of Talking Point papers: ‘Public Involvement in Research, Why Not’? by Kirsten Morgan. Our occasional series of Talking Point papers encourage people to consider key issues in mental health research, and provides a platform for their personal views.

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First thoughts from the first #McPinMethods Workshop

Yesterday afternoon saw the first of our methods workshops on ‘integrating lived experience expertise in mental health research teams’. The event was massively oversubscribed. If the fact that we had to cut short discussions before we were physically kicked out of the venue is any guide it succeeded in its aim of stimulating debate and the sharing of ideas.

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Who are the ‘experts by experience’ in mental health research?

Before Laura left the McPin Foundation in the summer 2016 to begin a PhD she wrote this blog exploring some of the issues about how we use our lived experience of mental health problems as researchers, and the labels we use as an organisation. 

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What do we mean by patient and public involvement in research?

Our charity is on a mission to improve the mental health of communities everywhere – through research. We obviously can’t do this alone, and thus collaborate with many others who share our goals. In the last three years, since we established our staffed research unit, we have seen some progress with the value and role of research being given greater prominence.

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McPin Foundation’s patient and public involvement methods week

The McPin Foundation is committed to using research to improve the mental health of people in communities everywhere. We champion the role of lived experience expertise in all aspects of mental health research. We employ and work with people with mental health problems to provide advice on research and deliver research projects.

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Mental Health and Bullying – do we need to help teachers help children who are bullied?

This week (14^th-20^th of November) is anti-bullying week.  Bullying has an undeniable and immediate impact on young people’s mental health. But we also need to think about how we equip teachers not just to help children who are bullied immediately, but to also reduce the long-term impact on their mental health.

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Is Scouting really the answer to mental wellbeing?

As a former Scout (and Cub Scout) with a history of mental health problems my eye was naturally drawn to the headlines declaring that ‘Scouts and Guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’. Yet again I am the exception to the rule!

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Tackling stigma and discrimination on World Mental Health Day: What we now Know. What Next?

People continued to be discriminated against by the very systems that are supposed to support them. Within health services, welfare and housing, people reported no improvement or even more discrimination than they did in 2008.

Today (10 October) is World Mental Health Day.

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Our News September 2016

During the summer the team at McPin have started some exciting new projects working with new partners and old. These have included:

The Judi Meadows Memorial Fund is supporting a new PhD studentship with Exeter University on GPs and suicide prevention.

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Long term impacts of medication for Bipolar

Medication side effects are a burning issue for many service users and carers.  Yet research to date has failed to accurately reflect the prevalence of the adverse events and effects resulting from long term psychiatric medication use. This is a particularly urgent issue for people diagnosed with Bipolar, as influential guidelines on its management, including those of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the British Association for Psychopharmacology, advocate the long term use of medications.

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Influencing the debate – peer research in academic journals

A new special edition reporting findings from the Viewpoint survey was published in July. It includes a paper on our qualitative research into mental health discrimination experiences which was co-authored with four peer researchers. We reflect on the importance of experts by experience being named as authors, and why they are so often absent from peer reviewed journal articles.

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The Inflamed Mind

There is a growing amount of evidence that some mental health problems may be due in part to the brain becoming ‘inflamed’. In August BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme about this titled ‘The inflamed Mind’. You can listen to the programme by clicking here.

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Ride London – Evan’s blog

McPin Rider 2016

When I feel the black dog sniffing around I’ve learned to hit the gym. I suppose I’ve always dealt with depression, though generally it’s nothing too serious. I went through one period of doing every intensive aerobic session I could find at the YMCA in Montreal.

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Looking ‘beyond the role’ – new methods paper on the impact of a collaborative evaluation on the peer evaluators

We have just published our latest methods paper which explores the impact of being a 'survey champion' as part of the Your Experience in Mind project evaluation local Mind services had on some of those involved. We employed 25 people who had lived experience of mental health problems and using local Mind services to help drive up participation in the survey in their local area. The new paper reports on a series of interviews we carried out exploring how it helped them gain confidence, develop new skills and how it provided a stepping stone for some into further education or towards employment. Read More

New Investment in NHS Research Infrastructure shows Mental Health research is gaining traction

On Wednesday the Government announced the next five years of funding for NIHR’s 20 Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs). These are collaborations between universities and NHS trusts that provide facilities and support for medical research, and in particular experimental medicine. What is exciting is the prominence that Mental Health is now getting.

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Learning how to talk about suicide – funding new research into how GPs help people with suicidal thoughts

Saturday 10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day when we join with others to shine a spotlight on suicide and encourage open and honest discussion about suicide and suicidal thoughts. Evidence shows that talking openly about suicide is critical in encouraging people in distress to seek help and breaking down the stigma that forces too many to suffer in silence. We are therefore excited to announce that together with Exeter University the Judi Meadows Memorial Fund is funding a PhD student who will research new ways to help GPs identify and support people who are psychologically distressed. Read More

Involvement in Research on Loneliness

Reducing loneliness – how do you do that then? Hopefully through recruiting the right Community Navigators! Here we reflect on how involving experts by experience in a recruitment exercise can add value and hopefully contribute to a successful research study. 

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Sad but inspiring: In memory of Donald Campbell 

Monday morning and I was on my way to work catching up with the news and social media. I had missed an excellent piece in the Sunday Times by Alistair Campbell about his brother Donald who died recently aged 62. Luckily it is available as a blog. Reading, I was immediately absorbed. That’s the power of the personal narrative. I also felt very, very sad. Another person dying far too early after years of treatment for schizophrenia. Read More

Taking a challenge – cycling for research into suicide

On Sunday 31^st July I got up very early – 4.45am – and cycled to the train station to start my Ride London-Surrey Prudential challenge. Getting to the start line was quite an effort as I live in West London and it started in Stratford over to the east.

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New Networks Officer Job Vacancy in Hounslow based on innovations and insights from McPin research

A new networks officer job vacancy is currently being advertised by the London Borough of Hounslow as part of the new Hounslow Wellbeing Network, which is based upon research we have conducted at the McPin foundation. Read More

Drawing up Research Priorities – different perspectives

One of the most significant aspects of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health was the Department of Health’s commitment to develop a ten year strategy for mental health research. We at McPin are now working with the Department on the process for drawing up the strategy.

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Getting our Report Card – asking people what they think of you and acting on their responses, the Your Experience in Mind Survey

Research and Evaluation Officer, Mind

Mind have been working together with the McPin Foundation since 2014 to evaluate the experience of people using our federated local Minds through the annual ‘Your Experience in Mind’ survey. We have 146 local Minds across England and Wales providing over 50 different types of service.

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Implementing an online mental health toolkit for relatives– reflections from our first data day!

There is an increased focus and interest in how to implement innovations into health care settings. And there should be! Call it improvement science or knowledge transfer or implementation – this area of work is how information developed through research studies or service improvement programmes can be used to achieve practical change.

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Why did I take on the work with the McPin Foundation?

In March this year I took on an exciting opportunity: working with The McPin Foundation as a Peer Project Assistant on a pilot scheme entitled ‘My Story, Our Future’. We will be exploring the stories of people who have themselves used or supported others accessing Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) services. 

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Pregnancy and medication choices: new research published

Many women with severe mental illness take psychotropic medication. This can put them in a difficult situation if they become pregnant, or wish to become pregnant, as there are concerns about the possible effects of these medications on unborn children. Until now there has been a lack of evidence about the risks to the unborn child, putting the women and their healthcare professionals in a quandary.

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Virtual Reality Helps Beat Paranoia

‘Paranoia’. It’s one of those words that retain their stigma despite all the good work of campaigns such as Time to Change. A reason for this might be the way that the word is used so much in everyday life.  The term your paranoid can be used as a response to so many statements.

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Our News – June 2016

The past few months have flown by and summer approaches with a number of staff changes at McPin. We look forward to welcoming back Sarah Hamilton (Research Manager) and Naomi Clewett (Senior Researcher) from maternity leave. We also welcome Ian Bradshaw to the team as our new Policy Manager.

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Brexit and Mental Health Research: making the best of uncertain times

As we recover from Thursday’s referendum our thoughts at McPin have started to turn towards what it means for our mission to transform mental health research. As we enter a period of uncertainty it is easy to be downhearted. But it is also an opportunity to think again about how we make the case for research at a time when it is going to be needed more than ever.

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Peer Research and Complex Needs: A Mental Health Perspective

Read a new blog about how research on people with complex needs are using an approach that we champion at the McPin Foundation – peer research. Written by Agnes, a senior researcher in our team, it looks at some of the challenges and benefits of peer involvement in research. It was written for Revolving Doors, a charity that supports people with complex needs including mental health issues. We are really proud to support their work exploring the role of peer - otherwise known as experts by experience - contribution to research. Read More

What does the research tell us about how you talk about and beat stress? #MHW2016

‘How do you beat stress’? was the question for Men’s Health Week which ran 13th to 17th June 2016. How do men talk about stress? How do men manage it rather than let it build up and harm us? Read Daryl's blog on the role of research in answering this question. We link this to some of our work at McPin and we are keen to hear your views on how research can play a role in creating mentally healthier communities .... Read More

Relationships for Mental Health

At the McPin Foundation, we’re gearing up for Mental Health Awareness Week, which provides an opportunity to join together to promote the importance of wellbeing and mental health for everyone, young or old. Mental Health Awareness Week 2016 takes place between 16^th and 22^nd May and the theme is ‘relationships’, because of the massive influence they have on our health and wellbeing. This connects with a number of projects that we are involved in at McPin, which sit under our theme of 'Wellbeing and Connectedness'. You can find out more by clicking here. Read More

Looking forward to the Wellbeing Network launching in Hounslow

One of our research studies has contributed to a new Wellbeing Network being launched in Hounslow which aims to improve wellbeing among people with long term mental health needs. Watch the animation to find out more about how it will work. Read More

My Marathon Story

Last year, on a cold, grey, drizzly day I found myself with thousands of other people on the start line for the London Marathon. I was suffering with a horrid cold, the last thing I felt like doing was going for a run, never mind one which would take me on a 26.2

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Mental Health and Support into Employment: Is it Working?

As the recent report from the Mental Health Taskforce points out, only 43% of people with mental health problems are in work, compared with 65% of people with other health conditions, and 74% of people in the general population. The figures are far lower for people with severe mental illness – for example, the employment rate for people with schizophrenia is around 8%.

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Improving the quality of participant information sheets

Researchers at Kings College London have just produced an interesting paper, published Feb 2016.  It is available online, and can be easily accessed. It looks at the ease of reading participant information sheets over a 10 year period – June 2003 to October 2013.

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Our News – Crisis Care in England: Where next?

Earlier this year, The Mcpin Foundation completed its brief evaluation (click here to read the summary and here to read the full report) of the local implementation of the national Crisis Care Concordat. The underlying approach of the Concordat was to improve partnership and multi-agency working; recognising the range of statutory and non-statutory agencies involved in crisis care, the role of family and friends, and working to ensure that crisis support is as effective as possible.

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McPin is turning 3 years old!

McPin is turning 3 years old! In a couple of weeks’ time we will be celebrating our third birthday as a mental health research charity that involves and champions experts by experience in research. Time has flown by and we’ve grown our supporter base, employed more peer researchers and become involved in varied and many projects. We recently had a strategy day with 30 staff reflecting on where next for McPin? Ideas were in abundance and what we must do is keep developing mental health research lived experience expertise. Please do encourage friends and others to sign up to support us. Our quarterly newsletter is the best place to start! Read More

Children and young people’s mental health – we all have a part to play

In recent months, the mental health of children and young people has hit the headlines. It is well established that most mental health problems begin during adolescence, with 1 in 10 young people (aged 11-16) thought to experience a diagnosable mental health problem.

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Our News – Kent’s Mental Wellbeing Programme

Earlier this year, we completed the first phase of our evaluation of Kent County Council’s Mental Wellbeing Programme. This involved developing a series of concept maps which was a new approach for us but is becoming more common in evaluation studies.

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Is collecting participant support preferences in interviews with vulnerable people helpful?

Recently, we decided to take an audit across three separate projects to see how participants responded to our questions about their preferences for support. We decided to present what they told us as an infographic. We would love for you to tell us what you think of this approach – do you think that asking participants for their support preferences as part of the research recruitment process is helpful?  Do you have any concerns ? Let us know your thoughts.   Read More

Kent wellbeing programme – resources launched

One of our evaluation studies has been developing concept maps, also known as a Theory of Change approach to evaluation.  Concept maps have been produced for the Kent County Council Public Health’s Mental Wellbeing Programme, consisting of eight wellbeing interventions, and these are being used to help plan the next phase of the Wellbeing programme. Kent adopt six ways to wellbeing in their Live it Well framework: Be active; Keep learning; Give; Connect; Take notice; Care for the planet. You can read about how the commissioner - Ivan Rudd - is using our reports in his blog piece and down load the evaluation reports. Read More

My Support Broker

We are pleased to be working with My Support Broker to evaluate a personal budgets project funded by Nesta. We have employed two peer researchers to help us and the study will generate evidence to support on-going initiatives for the roll our of personal budgets with vulnerable groups, including people with mental health problems.     Read More

Mental Elf – developing the #RCTDebate conversation

Thank you Mental Elf  and your bloggers Amy Price and Douglas Badenoch, for reviewing our commissioned Talking Point paper (RCTs: The straitjacket of mental health research?) and encouraging #RCTDebate. We commissioned Alison Faulkner to write a paper on any topic she chose, from the perspective of a survivor researcher, in order to open up discussion on topics that need to be progressed if we are going to transform mental health research. The goal of the McPin Foundation is to do just that #transformMHresearch. Methodological developments are central to this goal - so we encourage you to join in with Mental Elf and the twitter feed #RCTDebate. Read More

#RCTDebate – what did we learn?

Our first ever public event was held on 8^th October 2015 at the Jerwood Space. This was a chance to bring people with different expertise together to consider the role of the RCT (Randomised Control Trial) in mental health research design. It was also the launch of our Talking Point series of papers – a group of papers written by survivor / service user researchers on under discussed topics. Our launched paper by Alison Faulkner has a title that speaks for itself: “RCTs: the straitjacket of mental health research? Read More

Talking Point: RCTs- the straitjacket of mental health research?

We had our first public event and the launch of our Talking Point series on Thursday 8th October 2015 at Jerwood Space in Southwark.  We looked at the role of the Randomised Control Trials in mental health research with the help of Professor Sonia Johnson from University College London and Dr Steve Gillard from St George's University of London. Alison Faulkner, survivor researcher and trainer provided an overview of her Talking Point paper and we hosted a discussion. We also had a live twitter discussion during the event: #RCTDebate. Read More

Reflecting on our mission to #transformMHresearch

Just recently, the McPin Foundation have been reflecting on our mission to "transform mental health research". We have been busy in the past year as our info graphic shows: McPin Foundation 2014 2015.  We seek to build a community who share our mission to #transformMHresearch - and to do that we need to develop conversations on our twitter feed @mcpinfoundation on facebook, at events, in blogs, at conferences and in person. Please do join the conversation! Read More

Mental health research priorities for Europe

There seems to be a lot of conversations at the moment about priorities for mental health research. What should funders fund to improve the lives of individuals and communities with regard to mental health? Where are the promising breakthroughs? How can we gain parity for mental health research funding alongside other health areas?

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Marking world suicide prevention day

On the 10^th September 2015, across the globe, people came together to mark the 13^th annual World Suicide Prevention Day. This saw reports of candlelight vigils in the UK, flash-mobs in India, the release of balloons across America, and in Ireland, famous landmarks were lit up in orange.

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Our news – Assessing psychological treatment services – findings from our user focused evaluation

This month marks an important milestone in our project evaluating an NHS England funded programme known as IAPT for SMI, as the reports on our findings have been launched, both a full report and summary – the culmination of 10 months’ intensive work here at McPin!

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Genetic link to depression discovered?

Genetic link to depression discovered? A consortium of researchers from Oxford and China has discovered two specific regions of DNA that have been linked to depression. These findings were published in Nature in July this year. The results are some of the strongest evidence yet that genetics do indeed have some part to play in depression. Our Public Involvement in Research Manager, Thomas Kabir shares his thoughts on this exciting research in our latest blog.

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Reflections from working on an evaluation project: Your Experience in Mind

We are keen to look at new ways of involving mental health service users and carers in research. Part of our commitment to developing new approaches has been to investigate the things that have worked well and not so well about the methods we have tried in our own research and evaluation studies. We will publish a series of methods papers describing our work. Our first methods paper describes the 'Survey Champion' approach used in an evaluation of Local Minds. Read More

Research in the News – Mindfulness for the masses?

Over the past couple of months, mindfulness has been making headlines again. This is partly due to a new study, published in the Lancet that suggests that the practice is ‘as effective as pills for treating recurrent depression’.

It is fair to say that for some years now, there has been a lot of hype surrounding mindfulness – a type of therapy that draws on aspects of ancient Buddhist practices and is aimed at ‘increasing people’s awareness of themselves, their emotions and the environment around them, through meditation, yoga and breathing’.

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Right Here Right Now: The CQC on the state of crisis care

The Crisis Care Concordat was launched in February 2014 with the aim of improving the quality and availability of help and support for people experiencing a mental health crisis; support before reaching crisis point, urgent access to safe, respectful and effective care in an emergency, and support for recovery and the prevention of future crises.

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A new area of work for the McPin Foundation – mental health sciences

“Thomas – you need to look at a protein structure from lots of different points of view to understand how it works”. This was some of the most valuable advice I ever got when I was doing my PhD. I was studying how proteins stick to one another to form complexes at UCL in London.

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Reflections from 10 years of service user and survivor research event

On Monday (1st June, 2015), St George's University of London celebrated 10 years of doing service user and survivor research with a fantastic day of discussions attended by many inspirational leaders in mental health research, from a lived experience perspective. Three of us from the McPin Foundation attended. In one of the sessions, Sarah Carr, Peter Beresford, Diana Rose and Jayasaree Kalathil reflected on the place of collaborative and survivor research in Universities. Is it safe in universities?     Read More

Reflections from my research placement

As a mental health student nurse, evidence based practice is a term that is regularly thrown about. But what does evidence based practice mean? It means that all the essential components of a nurse’s knowledge and skills, in providing excellent health care, is based on information emerging from the best available evidence- evidence which stems from research.

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#mymadidea from West London Collaborative

I attended a very interesting event at Chelsea Football Club on 21st May organised by the West London Collaborative – a new, independent organisation that is working with West London Mental Health NHS Trust to enable service users, carers and staff to work together in equal partnership to design, deliver and evaluate services following co-production as a way of working.

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Research into practice – reflections from a primary care event

Today we attended a learning and development event for primary care practitioners - GPs, practice nurses, information specialists in London. The opening session particularly addressed local practitioners about current changes in mental health - both local and national agendas including how funding is allocated and services join up. With the new mental health task force working away to create a 5 year forward view of the future it will be interesting to see how issues raised in local meetings can find their way to the task force because crucial concerns are being raised particularly about collaborative provision of solutions for people with mental health problems. How to remove the barriers between teams or system elements so that better care is provided? Can research help with some answers? I hope so. The importance of research linked to practice was mentioned several times.     Read More

Where are there expert by experience mental health research groups?

We have just launched our Directory of UK Mental Health Service User and Carer Involvement in Research Groups. This was compiled by Julie Billsborough, and was quite an undertaking but we are really pleased to present this collated resource featuring 88 groups doing a diverse range of activities to improve mental health research . Click here to have a look through our Directory. We hope you find it helpful and easy to use. If you have any feedback or would like to add your group to the directory then please email: contact@mcpin.org   Read More

Involvement in research and trials: the participants’ perspective

A crucial factor in making a piece of research successful or not is participant engagement. Do people want to take part and can you keep them engaged for follow-up if that is required? But very little research has been carried out of participant experiences of what’s involved in “taking part in research” and why people do.

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Developments at McPin – March 2015

We have reached a birthday milestone and created a strategy for the organisation: that feels like a real achievement and significant changes are planned in order to deliver our vision for transforming mental health research. Our strategy is modest, but focused, centred on our key concern to put expertise by lived experience at the heart of mental health research.

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Our news – March 2015

As we approach the end of our second year at the McPin Foundation, it’s a good time to reflect on our progress in the last year and the new, exciting work we have planned. Our research work centres on five themes: Children, Young People and Families; Improving mental health support; Wellbeing and Connectedness; Inclusion and combating stigma; and Collaborating with people with lived experience.

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Young People Rethinking Mental Health Conference

A few of us from McPin attended the Young People ReThinking Mental Health event last week run by the Clinical Research Network: Mental Health. It was a really engaging event showcasing how young people can be involved in mental health research as active advisors and shapers of that research, rather than merely as participants. Read Naomi's blog about the event. Read More

The genetics of schizophrenia

To say that schizophrenia is a controversial diagnosis would be putting it mildly. Almost everything relating to schizophrenia has been contested, often ferociously. Putting that to one side, there is a lot of research into schizophrenia particularly to understand causation and treatments.

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Understanding psychosis and schizophrenia – new report from the British Psychology Society

The end of November saw the launch of a new report by the, British Psychology Society (BPS) with the aim of challenging stereotypes of schizophrenia and psychosis. This is 14 years on from the publication of the first edition “Recent Advances in Understanding Mental Illness and Psychotic Experiences” which was a really useful overview emphasising the contribution of a psychological perspective to making sense of ‘serious mental illness’.

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Suicide happens. We need to talk about it. And we need to research it.

Robin Williams death is a tragedy. He was undoubtedly a comic genius who has brought so much laughter and joy to millions of people around the world in his memorable (and at times immortal) roles. So many of his films and prophetic musings have been powerful way markers for my childhood and early adulthood.

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Personalisation and mental health – new research report launched

A research project commissioned by Mind, the mental health charity has just reported its findings. It was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) as part of a programme of work on personalisation in mental health funded by the Department of Health.

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Launching the McPin Public Involvement in Research Programme by Thomas Kabir

The mission statement for the McPin Foundation is to “transform mental health research by putting the lived experience of people affected by mental health problems at the heart of research methods and the research agenda”. We have been thinking hard about how to do this and we have a way forward.

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Mental health intelligence network

I attended the launch of the Public Health England pilot website a few weeks back – the National Mental Health, Dementia and Neurology networks. I found the event interesting, partly because I was involved in the PHE consultation report to gather people’s views  on the design and accessibility of the site, but also because I am keen to use this tool myself to campaign for change in my locality.

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Ups and Downs

We have been involved in a study looking at experiences of support and treatment in bipolar disorder. And it has recently been published in the Journal of Mental Health so it felt like a good time to reflect on this piece of work.

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We are concerned about the mental health of PhD students. By Sarah Hamilton

The McPin Foundation’s vision is to ‘transform mental health research’ to ensure that lived experience is at the heart of all research affecting people with mental health problems. This means making research accessible at lots of different levels to allow people with different interests and skills to have their contribution valued in research.

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Hearing people’s stories: interviewing with the McPin Foundation

Katherine Barrett describes her experience of working with the McPin Foundation to interview people about experiences of discrimination

I have just been involved in some very interesting research at the McPin Foundation.  I have been a telephone interviewer for the Viewpoint Survey  for two years now and in October 2013 I was invited to take part in a qualitative study using the Viewpoint questionnaire.

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World Innovation Summit on Health (WISH)

Last week I attended WISH as a guest of Lord Ara Darzi along with around 800 international delegates representing health fields across the globe. The Institute for Global Health Innovation at Imperial college London has posted some highlights online and Richard Horton provided a comment piece in the Lancet this week.

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Does service user involvement in research make a difference?

A major interest of the McPin Foundation is how service user and carer involvement in mental health research, reaching beyond taking part as participants, improves any project. It is a topic that is of interest to research funders as well, with programmes of research being commissioned by the NIHR to answer this question.

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Doing PPI better: why we are always learning

Last week, I attended a fantastic conference on Patient and Public Involvement in Exeter, organised by the South Peninsula CLAHRC.

The conference was a very inspiring event with a wide variety of researchers, practitioners and people who have used health services and are engaged in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in research.

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What helps personalisation flourish?

It sometimes seems as though our health and social care systems are in a constant state of change. Queen’s speech announced more changes to social care, at a time of increasingly difficult financial constraints. One area which is being widely discussed is the need to improve integration between Local Authorities and the National Health Services.

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Reporting stigma experiences – views of practitioners, families and people living with mental health problems

In March, the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) ran their Annual three day National Scientific Meeting in London. The scientific meeting is an opportunity for mental health professionals, researchers, service users and carers to get together and find out about the different research that is currently being supported by the MHRN.

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Time to Change

Findings from the evaluation of the first three years of Time to Change England’s biggest ever anti-stigma campaign, were published on 3 April in the British Journal of Psychiatry and commented upon by journalists at the Times and Guardian. This evaluation includes the Viewpoint Survey, run by King’s College London in partnership with the McPin Foundation. Read More