Project Title: Self-harm in adolescence and the influence of gender and peer networks

Holly is a LISS-DTP PhD Student at the ESRC Centre for Society & Mental Health. Her PhD is focused on adolescent self-harm and the influence of gender and peer-friendship networks. Holly will be using data from the Resilience Ethnicity and Adolescent Mental Healthy (REACH) Study – an accelerated cohort study of over 4000 adolescents in south London. Holly will use the sociometric data within REACH and conduct social network analysis. 

Prior to starting her PhD in October 2020, Holly was a Research Worker at King’s College London in Paediatric Epilepsy (2016-2020) on the Core Health Outcomes in Childhood Epilepsy (CHOICE) project. She developed the first ever Core Outcome Set (COS) for childhood epilepsy research in collaboration with young people with epilepsy, their parents and health professionals.

Holly completed her BSc in Psychology at the University of Roehampton (2016) and went on to complete an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at University College London (2017). Alongside the MSc Holly worked as an Honorary Assistant Psychologist in the NHS. Holly’s experience within the NHS and with Patient Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) work with young people (as part of CHOICE) has inspired her to focus on adolescent mental health.

Research interests

• Self-harm and suicide research 
• Adolescent mental health 

Teaching

• Graduate Teaching Assistant – BSc Psychology
• Graduate Teaching Assistant – MSc module Statistics for Mental Health Research

Expertise and Public Engagement

Blogger for Mental Elf

• 1^st March 2021 – Blue Whale Challenge and Suicide Contagion
• 24^th May 2021 – Disclosing Self-harm history: people’s attributes and risk factors
• 10^th September 2021 – Risk factors for suicide in men: new review highlights substance misuse, marital status and depression
• May 16^th 2022 – Cyber-victimisation may be associated with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors

Blogger for netECR (International Network of Early Career Researchers in Suicide and Self-harm)

• netECR World Suicide Prevention Day 2021 blog series - “I get by with a little help from my friends”: Adolescent peer friendship networks and self-harm

Other

• Crudgington and Ougrin. (2022). NICE guidelines for self-harm: a new school of thought. Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), The Bridge Magazine.”