Youth Mental Health Conference

On 14 October 2011, the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Special Interest Group in Youth Mental Health, hosted a major national research conference in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

This research conference marked the launch of the International Declaration on Youth Mental Health. The conference was formally opened by Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Kathleen Lynch TD.

The vision of the declaration is that every young person with mental health difficulties gets the help they need when and where they need it. The conference highlighted multi-disciplinary perspectives and approaches to supporting youth mental health. Leading researchers from the youth mental health field in Ireland and the UK will present recent research findings.

Below are the presentations from the conference

Professor Max Birchwood

Clinical Director of Youth Services in Birmingham and Professor at the University of Birmingham, Max developed the framework for the UK early intervention service model investment and leads on a national evaluation of their effectiveness. He is also involved with several research programmes in CBT for psychosis, public mental health and early intervention in psychosis.

Derek Chambers

Derek is the Director of Programmes and Policy with the Inspire Ireland Foundation, overseeing the delivery of ReachOut.com. He previously worked for the Health Service Executive where he was Deputy Director of the National Office for Suicide Prevention. In addition to this, he was the lead author of Reach Out, National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention 2005-2014 and project managed the Your Mental Health public awareness campaign on behalf of the HSE before leaving the public sector to join Inspire in 2009. He has an MA in Sociology and is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Applied Social Studies, UCC.

Professor Mary Cannon

Mary is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin and a Consultant Psychiatrist in Beaumont Hospital Dublin. She currently holds a Clinician Scientist Fellowship from the Health Research Board (Ireland).

Dr Helen Keeley

Helen is Co-Principal Investigator of the 7th Framework EU funded Saving and Empowering Young People in Europe (SEYLE) Project in Ireland, as well as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist for the HSE North Cork Area and the National Suicide Research Foundation. She is an Associate Fellow of the Academy of Medical Laboratory Sciences and a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists since 1995, following her qualification in Medicine from NUI (UCC) IN 1990. She completed Specialist Training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Tavistock and Portman Institute, London and is a member of the Tavistock Society of Psycho-therapists and Allied Professionals. Additionally, she has a Certificate in Systemic Practice and Theory (University of East London) as well as an MD awarded by NUI in June 2005 for her thesis “Markers of Suicidality”.

Dr Carol Fitzpatrick

Carol has recently retired, having been Professor of Child Psychiatry at University College Dublin, and a Consultant Child Psychiatrist in Mater Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and Children’s University Hospital, Dublin. She has a particular interest in adolescent depression and in the development and evaluation on interventions for use in ‘real world’ CAMHS.

Karen Galligan

Karen is Planning, Research and Evaluation Coordinator for Headstrong’s model of Service Delivery: Jigsaw. Karen works closely with Professor Bob Illback, conducting the Jigsaw system of planning, research and evaluation and has an honours degree in Psychology, an MSc in Information Technology and an MSc in Applied Psychology, all from the University of Ulster. Prior to joining Headstrong, Karen was Senior Research Officer for the Royal College of Surgeons on the landmark National Audit of Stroke services in Ireland and prior to that, worked as Senior research officer and acting Head of Division for the Health Research Board on the National Physical and Sensory disability database.

Professor Walter Cullen

Walter is Foundation Professor of General Practice at Graduate Entry Medical School at University of Limerick and a GP in Limerick City. He is also Visiting Professor at UCD School of Medicine where he worked as a Lecturer and GP in Dolphin’s Barn from 1998 to 2009. In 2008, he was a visiting Academic at Orygen Research Centre and the Department of General Practice at Melbourne University. He has obtained in excess of €1m in research funding, published in excess of 30 articles in peer-reviewed publications and is currently principal investigator on a HRB-funded project which aims to develop the role of primary care in deprived urban areas.