Young people's mental health research centre

An increasing number of young people are reporting mental health concerns, with one in six 7-16 year olds experiencing a mental health difficulty in 2022.

Early access to support is important, as around 50 percent of mental health challenges emerge by the age of 14. Access to the right help at the right time can help you now and in your future.

Research with young people, families and colleagues helps us improve experiences and outcomes for young people.

We can learn how to improve our services through research with young people with a range of different needs. When research and practice inform one another, guided by the experiences of young people and communities, it improves the quality of care we can offer.

We will:

• Work with our partners to develop a quality improvement framework for CAMHS, in line with Pennine Care’s Quality Improvement Strategy
• Increase opportunities for children, young people, families and carers to participate in research; from developing research ideas and designing the project to undertaking the research and evaluating the findings
• Increase the capacity and capability of staff within CAMHS  to participate in research to support their professional development; from developing research ideas and designing the project to undertaking the research, evaluating and sharing the findings and implementing any service changes
• Promote and embed a culture of research and quality improvement within CAMHS
• Continually foster new relationships and strengthen existing relationships with key partners, to support our research
• Develop a robust communications strategy to raise awareness of the research nnit and enable research findings and key achievements to be shared with partners in a timely manner

We will:

• Pursue as many research opportunities as possible, working in partnership with local and national academic organisations - including The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University
• Work in partnership with our expert child and adolescent mental health colleagues across Pennine Care
• Provide lots of opportunities for young people, families and carers to take part in research studies

Our young people's mental health research centre is led by Professor Prathiba Chitsabesan and Dr Sarah Parry. The research centre manager is Dr Zarah Eve. You can contact us on pcn-tr.cypresearch@nhs.net.

We have a team of experienced professionals who are passionate about improving the care and support provided to young people, so they can reach their full potential.

The centre aims to gather evidence of what works and how to do things better, which we then discuss with colleagues.

Between 2018 and 2023, we were the 5th best recruiting mental health trust out of 45 nationally for CAMHS research studies. We’re excited about developing new partnerships with young people, family members, colleagues in practice, researchers, and commissioners to advance mental health care for young people.

Together we can drive forward research that will improve services and make a real difference.

We're pleased to work with national and international experts and organisations, including:

• ChUSE Trial - Voice Collective, University of Manchester, Oxford University 
• Joint response car pilot - Greater Manchester Police, University of Manchester, Oxford University and Lancaster University

We've set up a forum on our intranet so Pennine Care colleagues can read or share updates on young people's mental health research and their work.

Visit our young people's mental health research centre intranet page (you'll need a Pennine Care email and login to access this).

Read some of these news stories to see how research is helping to improve services:

• ​​​New mental health roles helping children across Greater Manchester schools

View the latest young people's research centre annual report:

• Young people's research centre annual report, 2024-2025