On December 9th, we hosted our 9th annual symposium. Following the success of last year, we once again held the event online, enabling presenters and guests to join us from far and wide, with over 150 delegates registered for each session.
The day was split into 3 sessions, beginning with a morning dedicated to the wellbeing of the NHS workforce during the pandemic. Chaired by Professor Richard Morris, speakers shared research from the NHS CHECK study, covering topics including inequalities and discrimination, game-based therapy for NHS staff and the potential benefits of online Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy.
Our lunchtime session was chaired by Professor Mike Slade and delivered by our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) advisory groups, discussing hearing loss and mental health, online co-production, and a great presentation by our Young Peoples Advisory Group (YPAG) who discussed their ‘Sprouting Minds’ Initiative.
Corrine Hendy, Involvement Team Leader for MindTech and the Mental Health & Technology Theme of the Biomedical Research Centre was delighted to see PPI feature prominently in the symposium, thanking those who invested time and effort into delivering the sessions:
“Having the opportunity to showcase ‘best practice’ examples of PPI in research from different themes demonstrated the many areas of overlap we have, and enabled members of the public to network with researchers and PPI contributors. I’m looking forward to the follow-up meetings with our local community that have arisen from the event.”
Our ORBIT Trial was the focus of the afternoon session, chaired by MindTech director and ORBIT lead investigator Professor Chris Hollis. Bringing together researchers and experts in the field of tics and Tourette Syndrome, the team shared the development of the online intervention, recently published in the Lancet Psychiatry, which may greatly improve treatment options for families who currently struggle to access services. Speaking of the public involvement in the study, CEO of Neuro-Diverse (formerly Tourettes Action) Seonaid Anderson praised the ORBIT team, remarking they "actively listened to my expertise in terms of how to reach potential participants."
Once again, we encouraged participation on twitter, with #MindTech2021 having a potential reach of over 100,000. Our tweets and interactions generated almost 30, 000 impressions (number of times tweets were seen), making it a truly virtual event.
Poster presentations were submitted ahead of the day, with our expert panel judging the winners. We’re delighted to award Rowena Piers 1st prize for her video poster: Investigating digital inequalities and mental health help-seeking approaches among young people in the UK in the digital age of Covid-19, with our colleague Jo Lockwood ‘Highly Commended’ for her submission. Congratulations to you both.
Professor Chris Hollis, MindTech Director commented, “It was another hugely successful and enjoyable MindTech National Symposium, showcasing cutting-edge digital mental health research and the outstanding work of our patient and public involvement team”.
Recordings of all speakers were made on the day, and we’ll share them here as soon as possible. In the meantime, our online poster presentations can be viewed here.
See you all again next year!