This #CarersWeek2022 (6 - 12 June), the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London led a live discussion about the impact of the Ukraine war on family mental health and care needs. 

The discussion, hosted on the @Families_MH Twitter page and cohosted by @KingsIoPPN, took place on Friday 10 June using 'Twitter Spaces' - a new feature which allows people to broadcast live audio conversations on Twitter. 

The Twitter Space was chaired by Dr Juliana Onwumere, Senior Lecturer at the IoPPN, and featured contributions from experts in childhood trauma, old age psychiatry and mental health across King's College London, University College London (UCL), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Bath.

Watch a recording of the live discussion below:

Introducing the panel

Dr Juliana Onwumere is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the IoPPN, and Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Her main research and clinical interests are focused on family issues in severe mental illness and improving the wider provision of psychological therapies.

Dr Patrick Smith is Reader in Clinical Psychology at the IoPPN and Consultant Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. His research focuses on understanding children’s psychological reactions to trauma, and on developing individual and group interventions for traumatised young people.  

Professor Dennis Ougrin is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at QMUL and Consultant Psychiatrist at East London NHS Foundation Trust. He specilises in developing assessments and interventions for self-harm in young people. Professor Ougrin previously worked as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and was Reader in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Global Mental Health at the IoPPN, King's College London.

Dr Olga Zubko is a Senior Research Fellow at UCL, focusing on research into hallucinations in Parkinson's disease. She previously worked in the Department of Old Age Psychiatry at King's College London, where she investigated treatment options for Alzheimer's disease. 

Professor Suzanne Reeves is Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at UCL. Her research aims to understand the cognitive neuroscience of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson disease to develop and optimise drug treatments.

Dr Amy Harrison is Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist at UCL. Her research investigates the cognitive, social and emotional factors that maintain eating disorders in order to help develop novel treatment options for people with the most severe and complex forms of the disorder. Dr Harrison previously worked for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in their specialist eating disorder services.

Dr Ailsa Russell is Reader and Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Applied Autism Research at the University of Bath. She is interested in research that seeks to understand mental health problems co-occuring with Autism, and how best to adapt cognitive behavioural interventions to meet the needs of autistic people. 

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