THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.
About the session
The aim of this event is to share insights and outputs from Regulating Emotions – Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR), a UKRI-funded research programme which is trying understand why young neurodivergent people are at elevated risk for mental health problems.
The RE-STAR team will (i) present discoveries from the programme highlighting how upsetting experiences in school, and the emotional burden they create, can lead to poor mental health in neurodivergent young people and (ii) describe how this discovery has been translated into a preventative whole-school intervention: Place Positive.
Learning outcomes
Attendees will gain an understanding of:
- What drives mental health struggles for many young people with ADHD and/or autism.
- What helps autistic and ADHD young people manage everyday upsets.
- A neurodiversity-informed approach to promoting mental health in schools.
Who should attend
Mental health practitioners and researchers, and educators (related to special educational needs, autism, ADHD).
Programme
09:15 Welcome from Chair Professor Cathy Creswell
09:20 A series of short talks
- Understanding mental health challenges in autism and ADHD – Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke
- Emotional burden in school – what is it and why is it important? – Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke & Dr. Steve Lukito
- Reducing emotional burden in school – what helps autistic and ADHD students? – Associate Professor Dr. Georgia Pavlopoulou
- School action for reducing emotional burden – stakeholder perceptions and implementation – Professor Jane Hurry
11.00 Break
11.20 Place Positive: a neurodiversity-informed approach to promoting mental health in schools – Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke, Susie Chandler, Maciej Matejko, Amber Johnson
11.45 Panel Discussion: Implictions for practice and policy – Chair: Professor Cathy Creswell, Susana Castro Kemp (Institute of Education), Paul Callaghan (Autistica), National Children’s Bureau – name tbc, Lucinda Powell (Teacher and Parent), Tiegan Boyens (RE-STAR Youth Researcher Panel)
12.30 Closing Comments – Professor Cathy Creswell & Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke
12.45 Close
About the speakers
Professor Cathy Creswell is a Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology who leads The Oxford Psychological Interventions in Children and adolescents (TOPIC) research group at the University of Oxford. Cathy’s research focuses on the development, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders. She is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist in Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, a former NIHR Research professor, and an NIHR Senior Investigator.
Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke is a developmental psychologist who studies the causes, course and developmental consequences of mental health and neuro-developmental conditions. Motivated by his own childhood experience of learning difficulties and behaviour problems, he has devoted his research career to improving the life chances of young people, especially those with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as ADHD. To this end he has developed new ways of thinking about and studying neurodevelopment using experimental developmental neuroscience methods and theories. Most recently, thorugh RE-STAR he is building, together with colleagues, a new approach to the science of mental health which places the experiences and insights of young people with autism and ADHD at the core of the research process: An award-winning participatory model that has led to new new insights into the sources of mental health difficulties of neurodivergent people.
Edmund is an elected Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences (2016), The British Academy (2018),The Danish Academy of Honorary Skou Professors (2019) and a Member of the Academia Europea (2023). He is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. He is a Roman Catholic husband and father, soul music aficionado & lifelong Derby County fan (:-().
Susie Chandler is a Research Fellow in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. She is an autism researcher with over twenty-five years’ experience in the field. Her research interests include the developmental pathways of neurodivergent individuals from early childhood through to adulthood, and factors that may impact these. She is particularly interested in the role of mental health. Susie is currently the Programme Manager for the RE-STAR project, working closely with a group of neurodivergent young people as well as researchers to find news ways to promote the mental health of neurodivergent young people.
Tiegan Boyens is a lived-experience advocate, researcher, and consultant who does a variety of work based on her experiences and reflections on adoption and neurodiversity. She has been part of the RE-STAR project as a youth researcher for the last four years, engaging in all parts of the project from designing to dissemination. This has led to a range of wider opportunities, including collaborating on the book Improving Mental Health Therapies for Autistic Children and Young People. She is passionate about supporting positive change in all areas of life and other lived experience voices being heard.
Susana Castro-Kemp is Director of the University College London (UCL) Centre for Inclusive Education (CIE). Susana’s research focuses on inclusive systems, education policy and special educational needs and disabilities. Specifically, she is interested in examining policies and practices that lead to greater inclusion and sense of belonging, as well as socio-emotional wellbeing and mental health for all children. She has a track record of excellent publications and funded projects in these areas. Her latest grant – ScopeSEND – funded by the Nuffield Foundation, examines SEND policy and implementation in 14 jurisdictions.
Lucinda Powell is a veteran educator and BPS Fellow, Lucinda has been involved in psychology education since 2002. Recently honored as the 2024 British Psychological Society ‘Psychology Teacher of the Year,’ she specializes in translating complex cognitive research into practical classroom strategies. Lucinda bridges the gap between theory and practice through her podcast, Psychology in the Classroom, and her work as a coach for the School Mental Health Award. As a Lead Subject Tutor at the National Institute of Teaching and Education (NITE), she continues to shape the next generation of teachers while delivering impactful workshops on mental health and study skills.
Maciej Matejko is an autistic autism researcher and advocate. He is passionate about work that makes a real difference in the lives of neurodivergent people. He is a member of the Youth Researcher Panel at RE-STAR and a member of the Group for Research in Relationships And NeuroDiversity (GRRAND). He is also a tutor of English as a foreign language working with neurodiverse students. He holds an MA in English and American Studies from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Ca’ Foscari in Venice.
Amber Johnson is a Senior Youth Researcher with Kings College London on the RE-STAR project and has contributed to the project in a variety of ways, including but not limited to qualitative data analysis, data collection via interviews with neurodivergent young people, study design and conceptualisation, and article editing. She is also a PhD researcher at the University of Gloucestershire, focusing on staff training on autism in Higher Education using a participatory and intervention mapping approach.
Dr. Steve Lukito is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate on the RE-STAR research programme at King’s College London. Steve has over 10 years of research experience in neurodevelopment, with expertise in autism- and ADHD-related topics. His publications encompass neuroimaging, neurocognitive, and psychometric research. His research interests include understanding the overlap between autism and ADHD, as well as the emotional experiences of young people and how these are shaped by the environment. Steve is a researcher with lived experience of ADHD, and since RE-STAR, he has prioritised ensuring that his research reflects the experiences of the neurodivergence community.