Nothing about them without them
#CelebratingEngagement
with Dr Lindsay Dewa
“I want to give a voice to young people with mental health difficulties in everything I do” explains Lindsay Dewa. I’ve just watched Nexus, the award-winning short film informed by her research, which she co-produced last year with a film company and a group of young people who had lived experience of the issues portrayed, including eating disorders, challenges with mental health and social isolation.
We’re discussing why public engagement is so important in her field. An Advanced Research Fellow in Mental Health, Lindsay was recognised with the President’s Medal for Excellence in Societal Engagement last year, for work ranging from the co-production of Nexus to her involvement in Imperial Lates and the Great Exhibition Road Festival.
“In every new project it’s a primary focus - how can I involve people with lived experience, what sort of new things can we do, skills can we provide for or develop…
It’s just trying to really break down those barriers and boundaries of power and come out on level playing fields straight from the offset.”
“And then in terms of engagement, it’s so important to try different avenues to disseminate research, and have that two-way interaction with the public at all times.”
“Nowadays, a blog is quite typical, a Twitter post, conference and paper – in my head that’s the traditional way, but it’s about trying to move past that and go right, how can we a bit more creative, how can we get the messages across to people that the research matters to. Obviously Nexus was part of that – it’s a different way of bringing the findings to the public through creative media.”
Lindsay with her dog, Baxter
Lindsay with her dog, Baxter
Nexus, which explores themes of bulimia, digital exclusion and poverty, and the importance of social connection, depicts the anguish of lockdown for a vulnerable teenage boy. It strikes me as an important story to tell – that the experiences of children and young people unfolded behind closed doors during the pandemic, and might easily go unacknowledged and unexplored without media focus. But what made Lindsay want to get involved?
“It was actually still lockdown when I was approached by the film production company [Inner Eye Productions]. We were already thinking of different ways of dissemination.
As soon as they got in touch I thought, what an opportunity this is, to be able to really do something different...
...and again, I was very forceful in making sure young people were going to be involved – what an opportunity for them, to be able to develop skills in film production – wow!”
I ask Lindsay what she would say to researchers who are just starting out. What’s the value of engagement, and, film producers aside, how do you get started?
“It’s completely worth it for three different reasons. One is the young person or person with lived experience – wholeheartedly, you’re going to make a difference in that person’s life, whether it’s development, confidence building, or just connecting them to something -
it can’t be lessened, the impact you may have on that person’s life, for their future.
The second thing I’d say is that you’d really benefit yourself by learning from other people and the people that the research actually is about. Listening skills, collaboration – it’s going to help your career going forward. And I’m always inspired, every day.
The third thing is the research itself. [Public engagement] can really dramatically impact every stage of the research, from recruitment to dissemination.”
Finally, I ask Lindsay what’s next for her and for her projects. She has so many plates in the air that I can barely jot them down. She and her team continue to work with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and West London NHS Trust on the development of a digital information hub for resources drawn from Nexus. Following a two-way interaction at the V&A as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, in which the public were asked to suggest what happens in Nexus 2, alongside new results from a study involving the same initial group of young people, she hopes to raise funding for a sequel. And in terms of her own research?
“Digital mental health is definitely my focus at the moment; it’s how I’m funded. However, I’m looking to co-design interventions for young people. Detecting deterioration and intervening; using social connection as a way of preventing deterioration; But pushing what is expected of co-production… Just trying to fill those gaps, and get those voices into different research designs, like big data projects, and randomised controlled trials not just qualitative research, which is the most common.
Helping to shape all research about young people with young people is what is needed! Nothing about them, without them!”
Lindsay was photographed with her dog Baxter, and asked us to add this note.
"Not long after this unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Baxter after a short illness. It makes this day and the beautiful pictures that came from it very special and I'll be forever grateful to Sarah, Nisha and Tim for making it happen".
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