King's College London

I trained in clinical psychology at King's and returned as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in 2022. Prior to this, I held academic posts at Sussex, LSHTM and Oxford. I currently work between the IoPPN's Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where I am an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

My research is concerned with preventing and treating common mental health problems among underserved children, young people and their families. To this end, I work on (i) studying how social and cultural contexts affect youth mental health, ill-health and help-seeking; (ii) co-designing psychosocial interventions and other practice innovations with disadvantaged and seldom-heard groups; (iii) investigating outcomes and implementation processes in pragmatic trials and service evaluations; and (iv) integrating data to understand how, when, why and for whom interventions are (and are not) effective.

I collaborate with partners in the UK and internationally to generate and translate evidence in diverse settings outside of traditional clinics. This includes projects in primary and secondary schools, children's centres, voluntary youth services, and community spaces such as barbershops. There is a strong focus on scalable early interventions, incorporating brief delivery formats, transdiagnostic practice elements, digital platforms, and task-sharing models of care provided by peers and paraprofessionals. Participatory approaches are emphasised so that research methods and outputs are grounded in lived experience.

Current and recent projects

• CATALYST: Co-designing and testing an Asset-based TAsk-sharing modeL for Youth mental health Services in deprived communiTies. Funder: NIHR Applied Research Collaboration in Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS). Role: Co-PI. 2022-25.
• Baatcheet (‘Conversation’): Developing a web-based storytelling intervention to address anxiety, depression and social disability among Indian youth aged 16-24 years. Funder: Grand Challenges Canada. Role: Co-I. 2022-24.
• MHIN: Mental Health Implementation Network. Funder: NIHR. Role: Children and Young People's Mental Health (Project 2) Co-Lead. 2022-24.
• SWELL: Skills for adolescent WELLbeing. Randomised controlled trial of a group CBT intervention to prevent depression in high-risk adolescents. Funder: Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health. Role: Collaborator. 2022-24.
• HOPEFUL: Developing a hope-focused intervention to improve mental health and social outcomes among young women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and living in coastal communities. Funder: NIHR Public Health Research. Role: Co-PI. 2022.
• PRIDE: PRemIum for aDolEscents. Developing and evaluating a suite of transdiagnostic mental health interventions for common adolescent mental health problems in India. Funder: Wellcome Trust. Role: Clinical Academic Director. 2016-22.
• Active Ingredients: Understanding mechanisms of psychological interventions for youth anxiety and depression. Funder: Wellcome Trust. Role: PI (problem solving); Co-I (hopefulness, self-disclosure and psychoeducation). 2020-21.