University News Last updated 01 March 2011
Birmingham City University has built an online system for the NHS to help young people with mental health problems.
The project called Youthspace, is part of a public health team linked to the NHS Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. It has been launched by Charlotte Connor, who is a senior research psychologist at the mental health foundation NHS trust, and is also the voice of Susan Carter on the BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers.
Charlotte’s team approached the University’s New Technology Institute (NTI) to provide the technical help needed for the pioneering online project which aims to engage teenagers and young adults experiencing early symptoms of anxiety, depression or other mental health problems. The service, run in partnership with youth charity Fairbridge, is part of a drive to refashion mental health services in Birmingham and Solihull and create seamless provision for young people from 12 to 25, overcoming the all-too-common national problem of teenagers being left stranded between children's and adult services at either 16 or 18.
The University was given the brief that the online provision had to be attractive to a broad youth market within a restricted budget and to compete with other service providers.
Matt Peers, Studio & Commercial Manager at NTI, said: "Building and planning a website was new territory for them so we provided additional support to help them manage the process.
“Their budget was limited so my plan was to make them more aware of the decisions they were making – i.e was open source software right for them, how to map and understand how their content will placed in the site and on a page.
“The University is considered a partner of choice and we’ll be helping develop and plan the next phase of the site.”