Summer school 2023 in youth mental health a huge success

The Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health held its third virtual summer school in July 2023. The three-day school attracted over 80 participants who joined from around the world, with 23 different countries represented.

The summer school consisted of a three-day online programme, featuring insightful talks and workshops conducted by experts affiliated with the centre. Talks and workshops covered genetics research, challenges for youth mental health and the current landscape, global perspectives on mental health programmes and policies, preventing depression in youth, mental health in schools and evaluation of complex interventions, and suicide and self-harm in youth.

The summer school also led to lots of engagement on social media with the school’s hashtag #wolfsonsummer23 having a reach of over 19,000 impressions.

Overall, attendees valued the range of topics and the opportunity to interact with leading experts. Many students credited the summer school as an invaluable introduction to youth mental health research, helping them identify potential research avenues and explore future career paths.

Sangita Santosham, a counselling psychologist and private practitioner from Chennai, India, attended the summer school and emphasized the global impact the programme had..

Sangita said:“The summer school highlighted the significance of global research connectivity, underscoring our shared interconnectedness. I anticipate that more practitioners and researchers will gain from this experience, much like myself, and I eagerly recommend it to all my colleagues.” You can read about Sangita’s experience at the summer school on the Wolfson Centre’s blog post.

The summer school team would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who attended, and to our wonderful speakers from across the Wolfson Centre, the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, and DECIPHer.

Would you like to join us for the Wolfson summer school 2024? See the full programme and apply.

Read more on our blog about student's experiences at the Wolfson Summer School:

• Sangita -  The summer school highlighted the significance of global research connectivity
• Jemma - Inspired me to think about a career in youth mental health research
• Charlotte - Re-ignited my drive to ensure all my work is informed by robust evidence
• Sidney - An experience like no other