ENGAGE

Research consistently shows that children and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, those with care experience, and those who are refugees or asylum seekers are more likely to experience mental health difficulties and less likely to engage with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). ENGAGE sets out to understand why, and what services could do differently. The project does not treat non-engagement as a young person's failure to use available support; it asks instead what it is about CAMHS that makes it unacceptable or inaccessible for these groups.

The question is not why these young people don't engage with services. The question is why services aren't engaging with them.

The Research

ENGAGE is structured across five work packages. Work Package 1 conducts an international literature review identifying what is already known about engaging ethnic minority, care-experienced, and refugee/asylum-seeking young people with mental health services, and what good provision looks like for these groups. Work Package 2 maps existing provision across health, social care, and the third sector, to understand what services are currently available and where gaps exist. Work Package 3 surveys young people from seldom-heard groups via social media, schools, and youth groups to identify key issues at scale. Work Package 4 conducts in-depth case studies at six mental health services specifically designed for ethnic minority, care-experienced, or refugee/asylum-seeking young people, combining interviews with young people, families, and practitioners with observational fieldwork and document analysis. Work Package 5 synthesises all findings into a practical framework for those who develop, fund, and manage mental health services for children and young people.

A distinctive feature of the ENGAGE model is the use of peer researchers: young people with lived experience of mental health difficulties, recruited through McPin, who lead the qualitative interviews in Work Package 4's case study sites. These peer researchers contribute throughout the project, to analysis and dissemination as well as data collection on the understanding that young people with direct experience are better placed than external researchers to build the trust that these conversations require.

My Involvement

I was involved in ENGAGE as a YPAG reviewer, providing feedback at the proposal stage. The review focused principally on the Work Package 3 survey design - the number of questions, accessibility of language for seldom-heard groups, which social media platforms to use for promotion, and how to encourage participation from young people who may have had negative previous experiences of formal services. I also provided input on dissemination strategy and on the terminology to use when referring to the target communities in survey materials, where preferences vary significantly and where there is meaningful debate about the most appropriate language.