How can commissioners improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people?

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Alison Turner summarises the Department of Health’s Future in Mind report, which builds on the work of the Children & Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce and sets out a vision for increased coordination and collaboration to improve mental health and wellbeing in children and young people.

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Suicide prevention in schools: all plain SEYLE-ing?

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Stephen Wood appraises the SEYLE cluster RCT that investigates the effectiveness of suicide prevention in schools. This is the first large-scale European study of universal interventions for suicide prevention in schools.

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Mental health therapy for refugee and asylum seeking children: a small evidence base for a big problem

Refugees face a substantially higher risk of psychotic disorders compared to non-refugee migrants [see previous blog].

Laurence Palfreyman considers the very small and mixed evidence base of mental health interventions for refugee and asylum seeking children presented in a well conducted systematic review from last year.

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Improving mental health literacy in the classroom: new HeadStrong RCT

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Lisa Burscheidt reports on an RCT of the Headspace mental health literacy intervention and the impact it has on the mental health literacy, stigma, help-seeking and mental health of a group of young people in Australia.

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Is suicide contagious? Definition and epidemiology of suicide clusters

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Mark Smith summarises a recent narrative synthesis of research looking at the definition and epidemiology of suicide clusters.

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Health Promoting Schools can improve some areas of health, but more research is needed

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My grandfather had a nearly religious conviction of the value of physical activity. No weekend was complete without a strenuous bout of outdoor exercise, regardless of the weather.  New England gets cold and damp, and his five children would prepare themselves for winter excursions with some reluctance. ‘Healthy body, healthy mind!’ my grandfather would say, exhorting them [read the full story…]