The TOPIC Research Group is focused on optimising psychological interventions for the prevention and treatment of common mental health problems in children and adolescents.
Contact us: topicgroup@psych.ox.ac.uk | Connect with us: @topicgroup.bsky.social
Our Focus
Improving outcomes from psychological interventions for children and adolescents:
-
Identifying key psychological mechanisms
-
Increasing engagement and acceptability
-
Reducing inadvertent harms from interventions.
Improving access to effective psychological interventions:
-
Developing and testing screening approaches
-
Increasing efficiency of interventions.
Our Approach
To maximise the impact and effectiveness of our research, we work closely with a diverse range of partners including:
- Children, adolescents, and their parents/carers
- Schools
- Health and social care providers
- Voluntary and community sector organisations
- Industry partners
- Policy makers.
We share our protocols, data, and code where possible, using sits including Prospero, OSF, and the UK Data Service.
Our Methods
We use a broad range of methods including:
- Co-design approaches
- Qualitative research
- Experimental studies
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies
- Clinical studies, including case series, feasibility, and pilot trials
- Randomised controlled trials.
SOME OF OUR CURRENT ACTIVITY
https://mentalhealthresearch.org.uk/
https://andyoxford.mhid.org.uk/
https://mhid.org.uk/parent-carer-research-network/
https://www.arc-oxtv.nihr.ac.uk/our_work/Mental_health_across_the_life_course
https://osiresearch.org.uk/icats/
https://osiresearch.org.uk/osi-grows/
https://osiresearch.org.uk/star-cat/
SOME OF OUR PAST ACTIVITY
https://mcpin.org/projects-programmes/mentalhealthresearchmatters/
https://osiresearch.org.uk/my-cats/
https://osiresearch.org.uk/co-cat/
SOME OF OUR outputs FOR THE PUBLIC
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451093/coming-of-age-by-foulkes-lucy/9781847927293
Our team
-
Cathy Creswell
Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology
-
Polly Waite
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
-
Tessa Reardon
Research Fellow
-
Emily Lloyd
Research Support - Emerging Minds Network Manager
-
Chloe Chessell
Postdoctoral Researcher
-
Gemma Halliday
Research Clinical Psychologist
-
Emily Day
Trial Coordinator
-
Amy McCall
DPhil Candidate
-
Beatrice Shelley
Communications and Network Coordinator
-
Heather Dyer
Research Support
-
Lucy Taylor
Clinical Trial Manager
-
Lucy Radley
Research Assistant
-
Emily Whitaker
DPhil Candidate
-
Carolina Guzman Holst
NIHR Research Fellow
-
Helen Manley
Postdoctoral Researcher
-
Layla Rashid
DPhil Candidate
-
En-Nien Tu
DPhil Candidate
-
Jennifer Wild
Visiting Professor of Experimental Psychology
-
Siyu Zhou
DPhil Candidate
-
Tara Vesey
Research Assistant
-
Zoe Ryan
Postdoctoral Research Associate
-
Clare Stothart
Research Assistant
-
Simona Skripkauskaite
ESRC/ADR Fellow
-
Eleanor Leigh
Associate Professor
-
Charlotte Mason
Research Assistant
-
Naomi Tromans
Research Assistant
-
Hjordis Lorenz
Research Clinical Psychologist
-
Jasmine Laing
DPhil Candidate
-
Gino Hipolito
DPhil Candidate
-
Sophie Grant
DPhil Candidate
-
Lottie Shipp
DPhil Candidate
-
Maxwell Klapow
DPhil Candidate
-
Sasha Johnston
DPhil Candidate
-
Rebecca Davis
DPhil Candidate
-
Jennifer Fisk
STAR-CAT Trial coordinator
-
Lucy Foulkes
Prudence Trust Research Fellow
-
Alex Lau-Zhu
MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow
-
Lydia Munns
Postdoctoral Researcher
-
Lucas Shelemy
Research Clinical Psychologist
-
Nora Skjerdingstad
DPhil Candidate
-
Laura Turpin
Research Assistant
Selected publications
-
A Systematic Review of Guided, Parent-Led Digital Interventions for Preadolescent Children with Emotional and Behavioural Problems
Journal article
Whitaker E. et al, (2025), Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
-
Short, Animated Storytelling Video to Reduce Addiction Stigma in 13,500 Participants Across Multiple Countries Through an Online Approach: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
Journal article
Adam M. et al, (2025), JMIR Research Protocols, 14, e73382 - e73382
-
A94 Ambulance mental health placements via virtual simulation: a novel hybrid approach
Conference paper
Johnston S. et al, (2025)
-
Development and validation of a measure of concrete and abstract thinking
Journal article
Lorenz H. et al, (2025), PLOS ONE, 20, e0320009 - e0320009
-
Cognitive and behavioural processes in adolescent panic disorder.
Journal article
McCall A. et al, (2025), Behav Cogn Psychother, 1 - 15
-
The romanticisation of mental health problems in adolescents and its implications: a narrative review.
Journal article
Ndour A. and Foulkes L., (2025), Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry
-
Technology Matters: Online Support and Intervention (OSI) for child anxiety problems - an example of the journey from research to practice.
Journal article
Chessell C. et al, (2025), Child Adolesc Ment Health
-
“You never know who you’re gonna speak to”: Exploring Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners' Experiences of Assessing Traumatic Events
Journal article
Kerr J. et al, (2025), Cognitive Behaviour Therapist
-
Isolation despite hyper-connectivity? The association between adolescents’ mental health and online behaviours in a large study of school-aged students
Journal article
Bear H. et al, (2025), Current Psychology
-
Scoping review: potential harm from school-based group mental health interventions.
Journal article
Guzman-Holst C. et al, (2025), Child Adolesc Ment Health
-
Why is rumination unhelpful in adolescents? Two studies examining the causal role of abstract processing.
Journal article
LEIGH E. et al, (2025), Journal of Affective Disorders
-
Short, Animated Storytelling Video to Reduce Addiction Stigma in 13,500 Participants Across Multiple Countries Through an Online Approach: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
Preprint
Adam M. et al, (2025)
-
Does Intolerance of Uncertainty predict child generalised anxiety? A longitudinal study.
Journal article
Ryan ZJ. et al, (2025), Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 103004 - 103004
-
“It All Exists Within Me”: Exploring Care Experiences of Service-users with Comorbid Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and Eating Disorders.
Preprint
Lunn A. et al, (2025)
-
‘Felt Sense of Anomaly’-type transdiagnostic dissociative experiences in adolescents: endorsed phenomenology and plausible mechanisms.
Preprint
Černis E. et al, (2025)