What’s the project?
Researchers at the University of Birmingham, working in partnership with the Universities of Bristol and Kent, are running a research project to better understand the mental health of care-experienced young people and their experiences of accessing support.
There is currently very little research exploring how care-experienced young people experience mental health support. The research team want to hear directly from young people about the types of support they have used and what they found helpful, or unhelpful.
The team are inviting care-experienced young people aged 16-25 who live in England to take part. Participants will be asked to join a one-hour online interview with a trained researcher and a young co-researcher who is also care-experienced.
Your experiences can help the team:
- Understand what mental health support looks like for care-experienced young people
- Learn what types of support young people find helpful
- Identify barriers young people face when trying to get support
- Help improve mental health services for care-experienced young people in the future
The interviews were co-designed with care-experienced young people to make sure the questions feel relevant and supportive.
The research team especially welcome interest from young people who are:
- LGBTQ+
- From racially minoritised communities
- Neurodivergent and/or disabled
Ethical approval has been granted by the University of Birmingham.
Find out more
The research team are looking for 30 care-experienced young people, aged 16-25, to take part in a one‑off interview (around 1 hour). The interview will take place online via Zoom.
The interview will be audio-recorded so the researchers can write it up accurately. Video recordings will not be used, but you will need to have your camera on during the interview.
- Be 16–25 years old
- Live in England, UK
- Be care-experienced (residential care, kinship care, foster care, or a care-leaver)
- Not currently receiving crisis or emergency mental health care
- £25 e‑gift voucher as a thank-you for your time
- A supportive interview space with care-experienced co-researchers
- Signposting to care-experienced and young-person friendly support services
You can sign up to take part here:
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
You can also email the researchers directly if have any questions:
- Dr Willem Stander (he/him) – [email protected]
- Dr Emma Rebecca Wallace (she/her) – [email protected]
No deadline.
Please note that the McPin Foundation regularly promotes opportunities on behalf of other institutions; we are not responsible for the continuation or contents of further correspondence with any project partners where we are not listed as the project main point of contact.
