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Faith Martin

Dr Faith Martin

Senior Lecturer

School of Psychology

Email
MartinF8@cardiff.ac.uk

Overview

I'm a researcher, health and clinical psychologist. My overall interest relates to improving quality of life for people living with or supporting people with mental and physical health difficulties. I'm interested in understanding how people understand their own quality of life, and how to co-produce interventions to improve or maintain this.

I am currently focused on parents/carers of young people with mental health difficulties. I am particularly interested in the improtance of the parent/carer as a person, as well as a partner in supporting the young person.

I have linked interest in understanding and supporting mental health in other settings, with some experience relating to "Global Mental Health" in Uganda and a project in Rwanda relating to youth suicidality and parents' responses. There is much to learn and share when working with people from settings different to my own.

Publication

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Research

My current research focuses on understanding and supporting parents and carers of young people with mental health difficulties. I am particularly interested in how we support parents and carers in their own wellbeing. Having a loved one in distress is horrible - but we do not currently understand much about the impact on parents/carers of young people's mental health problems, nor have well evidenced interventions to support them. I'm working with various teams to address this through reviewing existing literature to create logic maps and clear recommendations for both research and practice, and to work towards developing interventions for parents.

My work with parents/carers in relation to mental health arose from a clinical post I held in Liaison Mental Health at the children's hospital in Bristol. I have previously worked on self-management intervention development, mostly for people with long-term health condtions but also to support parents' of young people experiencing health and other challenges. In the work to support parents of young people with mental health conditions, I have taken inspirations from self-maagement intervention components: information about the health condition and practical management strategies, combined with support for one's own mental health and self-care.

The unifying theme of my work is about improving quality of life using co-designed and co-produced interventions. I am interested not only in the individual, but also the systems in which they sit. My PhD work examined how people conceptualised their quality of life when living in situations of poverty in Thailand. I am interested in the role of cultural and social factors in wellbeing, with a specific interests in the impact of HIV on quality of life and mental health. I have since been lucky enough to work with UNICEF on projects examining factors linked to quality of life for 7-8 year olds in Java, Indonesia and considering how sports for development interventions may affect mental wellbeing for refugee children in Greece.

Current grants

Principal Investigator (PI) "Investigating parents' and young people's attitudes to suicidal ideation, suicidal behaviour, and self-harm in young people in Rwanda" funded by the Medical Research Foundation (£93,517)

PI "A systematic review of parents'/carers' needs, and interventions to support parents/carers of young people with mental health problems receiving mental health services: evidence synthesis with stakeholder engagement to provide practical recommendations", funded by National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit (£149,079)

Travelling Fellowship, "Investigating excellence in supporting parents whose children self-harm or attempt suicide", Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (£4,500)

Selected past grants

Co-Investigator "Psychological Therapies for Severe Mental Health Problems - Training Delivery Evaluation", funded by Health Education England (£99,960)

PI "How can we best support parents/carers of young people with common mental health problems who are not currently receiving NHS services?", funded by the Research Capability Fund from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (£40,938)

PI "Developing Web-based Support for Parents of Children who Self-harm", funded by the Emerging Minds UKRI Network (£32,306)

Co-Investigator "Better urban access to green space: Insight Analysis into Active Ingredients for Young People's Mental Health", Wellcome Trust (£44,069)

Co-PI "Supportive Surveillance? Co-design of automated timely interventions to enhance treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)", UWE Vice Chancellor Challenge Fund (£23,400)

Consultancy lead – "Positive Voices Evaluation" for Brigstowe HIV charity (£2,500)

PI "HIV Testing and Counselling in Uganda: Mapping the Terrain" (£9950). British Academy / Leverhulme Trust

PI "Development and Piloting of a Self-Management Support Intervention for People with Early Stage Dementia" (£19,972), Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust

Co-Principal Investigator – "Development of a HOPE (Self-management) Programme for cancer survivors from Black and Minority Ethnic groups" (£14,835) and for carers of people living with cancer (£12,315). Development of self-management workshop for survivors of testicular cancer" (£12,699) and of colorectal cancer (£12,699), funded by Macmillan Cancer Support

Biography

Qualifications

  • MA (Hons) - Psychology, University of St Andrews
  • MRes - Psychology, University of Bath
  • PhD - "Investigating Individualised Quality of Life in Northeast Thailand: Validating the "Global Person Generated Index" (GPGI)", University of Bath
  • Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of Bath

Selected Previous Research posts

  • Systematic literature reviews relating to the public's awareness of cancer, University of Oxford
  • Intervention development and feasibility study for behavioural activation and parenting intervention for perinatal depression in HIV+ women in South Africa, University of Oxford
  • Various self-management intervention development and feasibility studies, Coventry University

Current and Selected Previous Clinical posts

  • Principal Clinical Psychologist, Long COVID service
  • Prinicipal Clinical Psychologist, HIV services for adults (Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham) and young people (King's College Hospital, London)
  • Various posts in adult mental health, including Recovery Team and Traumatic Stress Services

Professional memberships

Associate Fellow and Chartered Psychologist - British Psychological Society

Practitioner Psychologist registered to practice as a Health Psychologist and Clinical Psychologist - Health and Care Professions Council

Accredited therapist - British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

External profiles