This is an information page for families and schools interested in our study on The Emotional Lives of Young People in School.

This study focuses on the role of the school environment in adolescent mental health. It forms part of our wider programme Regulating Emotions – Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR), which aims to reduce the risk of adolescent depression.

In this study we are particularly interested in the experiences of young people with autistic and/or ADHD traits attending mainstream secondary schools, and those of school staff. We want to know how school experiences can be changed to promote the emotional wellbeing of young people, particularly those with autistic and/or ADHD traits. We hope the findings from our study will support RE-STAR in developing a whole-school strategy to reduce the number and impact of upsetting school experiences for young people in sustainable ways for schools.

Call for autistic and ADHD young people for interviews!

We want to understand from autistic and ADHD young people with experiences of low mood, depression or burnout how school life impacts their mood.

This study is open to young people:

• Aged 11 to 16 years
• Have a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, or both,
• Have experience of low mood, depression or burnout
• Registered with a mainstream secondary school in the UK

Young people will receive up to £20 e-vouchers!

To apply, click the link below
https://qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_0dIZQftrVWxgvnU

For any questions, feel free to email us at re-starinfo@kcl.ac.uk

Our Research Questions

We would like to find out ...

• What is the impact of school on the emotional lives of young people with autistic/ADHD traits, from the point of view of the school staff and young people?
• How does hearing the point of view of young people impact the school staff's views and vice versa?
• How do young people with autistic/ADHD traits and school staff think school experiences can be changed to promote the emotional well-being of young people?

How we plan to answer these questions

The four phases of the study are illustrated below:

Information for participants

• parent information sheet
• young person participant information sheet
  
• school staff information sheet
  

Meet the Team!

Lauren and Myrto will be working with you throughout the study, leading activities in the focus groups and interviews.

Our researchers:

• Dr Myrto (Myrofora) Kakoulidou, KCL
• Lauren Low, KCL

Our My Emotions and Me project leads:

• Dr Sylvan Baker, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
• Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou, Anna Freud Centre
• Professor Jane Hurry, UCL Institute of Education
• Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke, KCL

Dr Susie Chandler is our project manager, and Jane Offerman is our administrator. 

More about RE-STAR

Emotional Lives Young People in School is part of a wider project called RE-STAR (Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience). To find out more, watch this video from our principal investigator, Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke:

News & Events

Podcasts

• We are working with Lucinda Powell to document RE-STAR through a series of episodes on her podcast, Psychology in the Classroom. Click here to listen to listen to all of the RE-STAR episodes so far!
• Edmund was a guest on 'Extraordinary Brains Podcast', in which he spoke about his own experiences growing up with ADHD. Listen to the episode here
• Edmund was also a guest on BBC R3's Arts & Ideas Podcast. Listen to the episode here

This research is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC)