Child development
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What are the most important life events for teens
Most adolescents and young adults identify positive, everyday milestones—such as education, relationships and growing independence—as the most important events in their lives, rather than crises. However, those with higher anxiety and depression are more likely to emphasise stressful experiences and interpersonal difficulties, highlighting how mental health shapes the way life events are perceived. Blog by David Bürgin on his recent paper.
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EBSA in young people: complexity, pressure, and the value of slowing down
When a child stops going to school, the wish to help them back quickly is easy to understand. Emotionally based school avoidance rarely has a single cause, though, and the pace of a response can matter as much as its content. One thought runs through what follows: that slowing down can sometimes do more for a child than any effort to hurry a return.
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Mental Health and School Achievement: Why Gender and Age at Onset Matter
Discover how mental health conditions impact school performance in children and adolescents. Explore research on over 837,000 young people, highlighting the effects of anxiety, depression, gender differences, and age of onset on academic achievement—and why early support matters.
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Assessing and Treating PTSD in Young Children
Learn how PTSD appears in young children, why it’s often missed, and how PTSD-YC criteria and CBT-3M improve early identification and treatment. Blog by Professor Francisco Musich.
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Meet the expert on the Adolescent Brain – Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Join ACAMH on 8 July 2026 for a workshop on adolescent brain development with Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. Explore neuroscience insights and real-world applications.
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The Teenage Brain: Social Sensitivity, Risk-Taking, and What It Means for Practice
Explore how teenage brain development shapes social sensitivity, peer influence and risk-taking, with practical insights for clinicians and educators. Blog by Professor Francisco Musich
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Understanding the Adolescent Brain: From Research to Real-World Practice
Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore leads an interactive online workshop session exploring the cognitive and emotional processes shaping adolescent behaviour. Through a combination of scientific insights and interactive activities, participants will develop a clearer understanding of how these processes play out in real-world settings, and what this means for everyday practice.
- Event type
- Workshop
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- LIVE STREAM
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Meet the expert: a nervous system approach to selective mutism, with Anna Biavati
We caught up with the presenter – Anna Biavati, a Speech and Language Therapist and founder of Steps to Brave Talking Therapy and Support – about the topic itself, her career, and her hopes for the event.
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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents: Evidence, Applications, and Emerging Considerations
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) is a developmentally adapted, evidence-based intervention for young people experiencing emotion dysregulation, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. In recent years, a growing body of evidence such as randomised trials and meta-analyses have suggested DBT-A’s effectiveness across outpatient, inpatient, and community settings (Mehlum et al., 2014; McCauley et al., 2018; Kothgassner et al., 2021; Syversen et al., 2024).
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Neuroanatomical Variability and Early Substance Use Initiation: Insights from the ABCD Study
Adolescence is a period of rapid brain development, making it a sensitive window for experiences that may shape long-term outcomes. A new study from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) project examined whether neuroanatomical variability is linked to early initiation of alcohol, nicotine, or cannabis. Drawing on baseline brain images taken before substance use began, the researchers found regionally specific differences in cortical thickness and surface area among early initiators. The findings highlight the complexity of adolescent neurodevelopment and point to the value of large-scale, longitudinal studies in clarifying how brain structure and behaviour unfold together.
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