The strengths and challenges of online services and interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people.
Rhiannon Evans, Lorna Stabler and Rachael Vaughan, Cardiff University.
The Coronavirus pandemic, with its associated lockdowns and restrictions, prompted a move from face-to-face interactions to remote forms of engagement that relied on telephone or online contact. This had consequences for the type and frequency of mental health and wellbeing services or interventions that were available to care-experienced children and young people, and their foster and kinship carers.
This webinar presents the findings from a study undertaken in 2021 that explored the views and experiences of mental health and wellbeing provision among young people, carers, and health and social care professionals in Wales during the Coronavirus pandemic. These services were delivered online, via telephone, or occasionally through a mixture of in-person and remote meetings. The study was led by Dr Rhiannon Evans and colleagues from Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences, in partnership with The Fostering Network in Wales and Voices from Care Cymru. The study was funded by the UKRI TRIUMPH Network.
The study centralised the lived experience of young people, foster and kinship carers and health and social care professionals. The study involved a care experienced peer researcher from the CASCADE Voices Research Advisory Group as part of the research team. Additionally, The Fostering Network in Wales Advisory Groups and young people from Voices from Care Cymru contributed to the study design and the recommendations that were generated from this research.
This webinar will present the key themes from the research study and highlight recommendations for both policy and practice. The findings of this study aim to engender improvements in remote and face-to-face services and interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people as we move beyond the restrictions of the Coronavirus pandemic.
