Mina Fazel

School-based mental health interventions is the current focus of my research. I am working with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust to develop better school-based mental health services for all children across Oxfordshire secondary schools. As part of this we are conducting an Online Pupil Survey for children in years 4 to 13. Schools can sign up here. I am also working with the  Oxford ARC to evaluate the changes in child mental health services across the region. The evaluation is informed by change management and implementation science theories. I have previously spent some time at the Ethox Centre on a Catherine Miles Scholarship to explore some of the ethical challenges of providing mental health services in schools, an area I hope to focus more on in the future. 

I previously had an NIHR post-doctoral fellowship to develop a mental health toolbox for schools that any front-line worker, even if they do not have a mental health background, can utilise in the school setting. Traditional mental health services might not access over half of the children who require services and given that a substantial proportion of mental illness starts before the age of 18, it is essential to find innovative ways for services to work in order to maximise children's emotional, cognitive and social development.

Our Lancet Psychiatry series on school mental health interventions are freely available online and can be found here: http://www.thelancet.com/series/mental-health-interventions-schools 

We have also made a new poster for schools on 'COPING WITH YOUR LOW MOOD' which is free to download and can be printed or emailed to students and staff. 

Refugee mental health needs have been a longstanding interest. I have conducted work on the epidemiology of and the risk and protective factors for mental health problems in refugee children, I am concerned about the psychological impacts of immigration detention and have an active interest in Narrative Exposure Therapy for PTSD. For Children's Mental Health Week 2019 we have made a 6-part Podcast Series on Mental Health Interventions for Refugee Children aimed at anyone wanting to learn more about the needs of these children. Do listen!

My clinical work is as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in the Department of Children's Psychological Medicine at the Children's Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals. 

Links to publications can be found here or via ResearchGate