We would like to invite you to register for the first Reading Resilience Network Workshop. This event will be hosted online via Microsoft Teams.

The workshop will run for 1 hour from 12:30 to 1:30 and then there will be 30 minutes of informal networking from 1:30 to 2 pm.

Below is a summary of the events and the speakers in the workshop. We look forward to seeing you!

Workshop Schedule:

Improving Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in a pandemic. Where are the gaps and how can we close them?

Dr. Alice Farrington, Professional Lead for the Berkshire CAMHS Anxiety and Depression Pathway

There are many challenges facing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services emerging from the pandemic. Dr. Alice Farrington will talk about how NHS services are trying to address these challenges and where further research might help.

Ways to Wellbeing Project: Piloting a Holistic Assessment Approach for Patient Benefits and Research Impact 

Prof Stella Chan, Charlie Waller Chair of Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment, University of Reading

Prof Claire Williams, Chair of Neuroscience, University of Reading

Pauline Peters, Senior Transformation Lead – Children and Young People (RBVM), NHS Frimley CCG

Dr. Keren MacLennan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Reading

Bonnie Brittle, Children and Young People’s Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, CAMHS Getting Help Team

Research literature and clinical observations point towards lifestyle factors, such as sleep, diet, and physical activity as having a strong link with young people’s mental health. Ways to Wellbeing is a collaborative project between the clinical teams of Getting Help Service and University researchers. This talk will illuminate how the Ways to Wellbeing project aims to examine if assessing these lifestyle aspects will help improve treatment outcomes, as well as pilot the use of routinely collected clinical data to maximise research impact.

Panel Discussion and Q&A

Kate Penhaligon, Head of Research & Development, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Prof. Stella Chan, Charlie Waller Chair of Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment, University of Reading

Following the talks, there will be a panel discussion and Q&A to explore how we can bring clinical insights and research skills together to make transformational changes to the way we understand and support young people’s mental health problems.

There will also be some time for informal networking at the end of the event, from 1:30 - 2 pm.

Below is more information about the speakers in the Reading Resilience Collaborative Workshop 1.

Prof. Stella Chan

Charlie Waller Chair of Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment, University of Reading

Prof. Stella Chan is the Charlie Waller Chair in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatment. Her role is to support the research development of the Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Clinic and Charlie Waller Institute. Prof. Chan's own research aims to identify bio-psycho-social factors underpinning adolescent depression and mood difficulties. She also founded Project Soothe, a global citizen science project that has collected 800 soothing images from members of the general public from 40 countries. Project Soothe has co-produced a range of exciting wellbeing tools with young people and other community groups; some are being currently used in a free app called CogniCare.

Dr. Alice Farrington

Professional Lead for the Berkshire CAMHS Anxiety and Depression Pathway 

Dr. Alice Farrington has been working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health NHS Services since qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2000 and is currently the professional lead for the Berkshire CAMHS Anxiety and Depression Pathway based at Reading University. Alice is passionate about using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help children and young people with OCD, anxiety and depression. Alice has always been keen to support parents, and has developed and facilitated a number of workshops for parents of children in Berkshire CAMHS. Alice presented at the BABCP conference in 2019, and the OCD-UK conferences in 2021 and 2022. She has published on topics related to dissociation in adolescents, depression in children, increasing access to specialist treatment for difficulties with childhood anxiety, as well as using imagery to augment OCD treatment. Alice is the chair of the Berkshire CAMHS Research Committee and also facilitates the Berkshire CAMHS Research Special Interest Group, and is currently involved in research projects into cognitions related to vomit phobia in young people, using parent-led CBT to treat childhood OCD, as well as improving parent-led CBT for autistic children who are anxious.

Kate Penhaligon

Head of Research & Development, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Kate Penhaligon's role is to provide strategic, operational oversight and leadership of research delivery across Berkshire Healthcare services. Kate has links with a number of key stakeholders, academic institutions, NIHR Clinical Research Network, Applied Research Collaboration, Academic Health Science Network, and other partners. She started her career at Southampton University Hospital Trust and has worked within the clinical research setting for over 20 years.

Pauline Peters

Senior Transformation Lead – Children and Young People (RBVM), NHS Frimley CCG

Pauline Peters works for Frimley CCG as a Senior Transformation Lead, with responsibility for the children and young people’s physical and mental health portfolios.   She is an accredited Counsellor and Child Psychotherapist who previously worked as a Clinical Team Lead for both Oxford and Berkshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Pauline has successfully led on the roll out and implementation of early intervention and preventative services across East Berkshire and an innovative project for Hertfordshire Children’s Centres to reduce inequalities within communities due to social determinants of health. In addition, she was employed as a lead for acute paediatric services and has worked across a wide variety of educational settings and the voluntary sector, to help improve mental health and wellbeing. She currently manages her own clinical practice which has been up and running for more than 18 years.

Bonnie Brittle

Children and Young People’s Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, CAMHS Getting Help Team

Bonnie Brittle is a Children and Young People's Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner within the RBWaM Getting Help Team at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust. She completed her Postgraduate Certificate at UCL and has received Parenting Interventions training at the University of Reading.

Bonnie is now working with the University of Reading on the Ways to Wellbeing research project. She has previous experience working with NHS England as a Research Executive while at Think Ahead and was a Research Assistant for the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University. Her undergraduate dissertation was also published in Teaching and Teacher Education.

Prof. Claire Williams

Chair of Neuroscience, University of Reading

Prof. Claire Williams is Chair of Neuroscience in the School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading, UK. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Reading in 2000. Her research group, the Nutritional Psychology laboratory, investigates the health benefits of plant-derived chemicals. The main focus of her laboratory is the interplay between dietary intake and measures of psychological well-being such as cognitive performance, food preference, mood, and quality of life using a wide range of techniques (e.g. animal studies, randomised controlled trials, neuroimaging) and population groups (e.g., school-aged children, healthy adults, older adults, patients with mild cognitive impairment). She has published more than eighty peer-reviewed research articles, five book chapters and is listed as an inventor on six international patent families, including 34 worldwide granted patents.

Dr. Keren MacLennan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Reading

Dr. Keren MacLennan is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Reading, supporting a range of projects including Project Soothe and the Reading Resilience Network. Her research expertise relate to mental health, sensory processing, and autism.