Mental Health Mission
What is the Mental Health Mission and what is the Trust’s involvement?
The Mental Health Mission (MHM) is part of the Government investment to fund new research that aids diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of Mental ill-health. The MHM involves cross-working across NHS trusts all over the UK. We are working in collaboration with University of Birmingham and Birmingham & Solihull Mental health Foundation Trust is one of the demonstrator sites, and we are focusing on the management of Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) but also referred to as ‘Difficult-to-treat-Depression’ (DTD)
How are we trying to improve things with research?
We are currently developing a digital research platform which will store data points from people who have TRD/DTD, it is hoped this will provide more in-depth understanding of TRD/DTD. We are also building a neuromodulation clinic that will test how useful modern medical treatments such as Esketamine/ketamine and Transcranial magnetic stimulation can be used for the management of DTD/TRD.
Where can I find out more
If you would like to find out more, please contact the R&D Department at bsmhft.researchanddevelopment@nhs.net
Team achievements
Zofia – Honorary Research and Development Assistant
Zofia has previously presented a poster on her study titled, ‘Exploring gender and age differences in the relationship between ADHD domains and disordered eating in a normative adult population.’
Additionally, Zofia has also recently received an award called, the ‘East Midlands Chamber Future Leader Award’ for her grades and extracurricular research activities at University of Derby. The East Midlands Chamber connects and supports businesses and communities across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire. Recently, they began working with local universities, allowing lecturers to nominate their students for the Future Leader Award, which celebrates students’ achievements and leadership skills.’
Clare – Senior Research Fellow
Please see the below list for Clare’s excellent achievements!
- Led a programme of research within neuropsychiatry and published approximately 70 peer-reviewed articles on topics such as social cognition and quality of life in disorders including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Tourette syndrome and epilepsy.
- Won funding to conduct brain imaging studies in Huntington’s, and to run the first ever trial of brain stimulation to help with memory problems in these patients.
- Spoken about her research at many National and International conferences, including those held by organisations such as the American Neuropsychiatric Association, European Huntington’s Disease Network and The Royal College of Psychiatrists, and has given invited talks at universities in Paris, Dresden, Vienna and Brussels.
- Had her ground-breaking research into social cognition in Tourette syndrome featured on the BBC television program Employable Me (2016)
- Been appointed to Vice Chair of the Black Country REC (HRA) as well as to the editorial board of Frontiers in Psychiatry and PLOS One
- Received the Wiley award for most downloaded publication (2021)
- Been awarded funding from EHDN to study the association between social cognition and quality of life in HD in order to develop specialised assessments
- Been recognised as a top scholar by Scholar GPS for her research (top 1%) in Tourette syndrome and Behavioural Neurology
- Recently supported the HD community by contributing to the proposed updating of diagnostic guidelines (papers in Neurology & Neurology Clinical Practice)’
September 2023 Showcase
In September 2023, we held our first research showcase post-Covid. The showcase gave attendees an opportunity to meet the team, learn about the work we do and how we are supporting the future of mental health research. It was officially opened by Dr Fabida Aria (medical director of the Trust) and was co-chaired by Professor Alex Copello (Associate Director for Research). Guest speakers included service user researchers, consultant psychologists, Experts by Experience and colleagues from Aston University and the University of Birmingham.
We would like to thank those who participated in the research poster competition at the event and say a massive congratulations to those in first and second place:
Winner – Charlotte Close, Hallucinations in Early Motherhood
Highly commended – Rebekka Harrison, “You’ve gotta be a man and be strong”: Fathers’ Experiences of Perinatal Loss in the Pakistani Community.
Attendees were asked to complete evaluation forms following the event and we received an overwhelming positive response to the hard work our team contributed to the day. 89.5% of respondents were very likely to attend future R&D events and 81.6% of respondents were very likely to encourage others to attend future R&D events. 84.2% of respondents found the overall conference excellent. The aim of the showcase was to be predominantly internal and inform our trust (BSMHFT) colleagues of our work. Successfully, 78.6% of attendees were from BSMHFT. However, attendees suggested some external speakers would be fascinating, this is something we will consider for future events.
Some of the most well-received agenda items were speeches from experts by experience and our Lived Experience Action Research Group (LEAR). Suggestions for topics in future events included governance support, how to get involved in research and more information about research projects within specific areas such as neurodiversity and staff experiences, amongst others. Suggested improvements from attendees included managing time-keeping and technical issues, and considering the accessibility of terminology used in presentations and formatting of slides. We thank all attendees for joining us on such a successful day and for the valuable feedback provided, which we look forward to building upon in our next event.
