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Mr Ben Hoi-Ching Wong BSc, MSc

Research Affiliate

Biography

Ben is a clinical research affiliate from the Youth Resilience Unit at East London Foundation Trust, currently working in partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and King’s College London. He holds an MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health from the IoPPN and a BSc in Psychology from University College London. Clinically, Ben has experience practicing low-intensity CBT interventions in CAMHS and delivering behavioural therapy in the community.

Ben specialises in child self-harm and suicide epidemiology, acute mental health team operation, and help-seeking promotion. At present, he is a senior researcher for the IVY trial, a national, multi-centre, randomised controlled trial. This aims to investigate the effectiveness of intensive community care teams for children and young people who present with mental health crisis, compared to alternative pathways.

Ben also coordinates an international consortium of psychiatrists, psychologists, and researchers from emergency units in 35 countries. The consortium was formed to facilitate self-harm research across paediatric emergency units, with the eventual goal to establish a harmonised data infrastructure and develop clinical and research capacity.

Research Interests:

  • Child and adolescent psychiatry
  • Global community mental health
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide
  • Psychiatric emergency
  • Help-seeking

Publications:

  • Wong BH-C, Vaezinejad M, Plener PL, et al. Lockdown stringency and paediatric self-harm presentations during COVID-19 pandemic: retrospective cohort study. BJPsych Open. 2022;8(2):e75. e75. doi:10.1192/bjo.2022.41
  • Wong BH-C, Chkonia E, Panteleeva L, et al. Transitioning to community-based mental healthcare: reform experiences of five countries. BJPsych International. 2022;19(1):18-21. doi:10.1192/bji.2021.23
  • Ougrin D, Wong BH-C, Vaezinejad M, et al. Pandemic-related emergency psychiatric presentations for self-harm of children and adolescents in 10 countries (PREP-kids): a retrospective international cohort study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2021/03/07 2021; doi:10.1007/s00787-021-01741-6
  • Papageorgiou, K. A., Wong, B. et Clough, P. J.. (2017). Beyond good and evil: Exploring the mediating role of mental toughness on the Dark Triad of personality traits. Personality and individual differences, 119, 19‑23. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.031