The World Awareness of Children in Trauma project

Supporting mental health promotion and prevention for children facing health inequalities 

PI Dr Michelle O’Reilly (Associate Professor of Communication in Mental Health, Chartered Psychologist in Health (C. Psychol. AFBPSS), Assistant Deputy Chair (UEIC); Co-Chair (RIWG), Assistant Deputy Director Midlands DTP in Mental health and Neuroscience, University of Leicester)

Led by WACIT and supported by the University of Leicester. Co-Leads – Professor Panos Vostanis (Honorary Professor) and Dr Michelle O’Reilly 

The vision of our research project is to ensure the work provides a framework for the mental health promotion of children and young people living in disadvantaged communities and facing a range of health inequalities. The focus is therefore on supporting the infrastructure of these communities to promote the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable groups. To accomplish this, our research provides a foundation for improving the skills and competencies of professionals working with children and young people and increasing their confidence in the delivery of their services. A further element of the mental health promotion framework is to train and upskill young people themselves as peer educators and peer support workers to deliver activities and engage community members in mental health promotions at a local level. 
Ultimately our work aims to: provide multi-systemic impact with a sustainable goal of improving the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children and young people in a way that aspires to be decolonial, working directly with local people, paraprofessionals, and communities, for applicability and cultural relevance. 

We have undertaken mental health promotion and prevention training to a range of professionals, paraprofessionals, parents, and young people in Turkey, Pakistan, Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, and Greece. 

Our overarching project is made up from several smaller projects and impact work funded as follows: 

• Youth-led impact and knowledge exchange activities to support pregnant adolescent girls in Kenya. 
  ESRC IAA £7540 [ES/X004732/1] November 2023 
  Michelle O’Reilly, Diane Levine, Philip Archard, Jane Auma, Elijah Getanda and Panos Vostanis. 
• Development of multi-level partnerships to enhance child mental capacity in majority world countries disadvantaged communities
  ESRC IAA (internal partnership enhancement grant) £15,000 (2022) 
  Michelle O’Reilly and Panos Vostanis 
• Child mental health cascade training partnership in South Africa
  ESRC IAA (internal partnership enhancement grant) £5000 (2021) 
  Michelle O’Reilly and Panos Vostanis 
• Resilience and mental health in street children: Building sustainable partnerships for knowledge exchange and knowledge translation
  International Research Development Fund (GCRF) (2020) £4500
  Michelle O’Reilly and Panos Vostanis 
• Co-constructing Inequalities and Improving Wellbeing Post-Pandemic: Children’s Vision in five Major World Countries
  GCRF (Research England) & LIAS (2020) £28,075.00
  Panos Vostanis, Michelle O’Reilly, Clare Anderson, Caroline Upton, Effie Law, Kelly Staples, Grace Sykes, Harry Dixon, Sadiyya Haffejee  
• Evaluation of Digital Intervention to Build Children’s Resilience in Brazil
  during the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond: 
  UoL LIAS C19 Call (2020) £7800
  Panos Vostanis, Michelle O’Reilly, Effie Law, Sarah Adams, and Juliana Fleury