NCMH Launches Nationwide Appeal
NCMH Launches Nationwide Appeal
The National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH) has launched a nationwide appeal for volunteers to support Wales’ largest mental health research project.
Professor Nick Craddock
Professor Nick Craddock, Director of the NCMH, appealed for volunteers in a double-page article in the Western Mail on 16 April 2012. The NCMH, which is funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHSCR) and hosted by Cardiff University, aims to engage the NHS and patients in mental health research and feedback knowledge discovered through the research to support patients and improve services.
To help do this the NCMH has established the Wales Mental Health Network (WMHN), which aims to recruit 6000 volunteers over the next two years to take part in mental health research. The research will focus on quite a wide spectrum of mental illness: schizophrenia; bipolar disorder; post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease; autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Prof Nick Craddock says, “The idea is that people won’t be signing up to take part in one study, but joining a network – a group of people who are trying to progress knowledge in mental health. We will be doing a range of studies over the years, including looking at genetics and identifying genes that may influence or trigger illness, we’ll be doing psychological studies where we look at how people think about things, how they process information and how people’s personality varies. We’ll also be doing imaging studies where people do tasks inside a brain scanner so we can look at how different parts of the brain function. And we’ll be looking at how people respond to treatments.”
To date 140 volunteers have joined the network. People who volunteer to take part are asked to sign a consent form, complete a questionnaire, agree for their medical information to be looked at by the researchers and give a small blood sample. Colin, who has had post traumatic stress disorder since serving in the army for nine years, has volunteered to help the study and encourages more people to join to help to raise awareness and improve understanding of mental illness. “I found the process easy, quite relaxing and pleasant and I would encourage others to take part in order to make the general public aware that there is a problem and mental ill health should not be a taboo subject. People are still not even aware of what PTSD is – that needs to change.”
Prof Nick Craddock says: “We are massively excited about this work, we think it’s a wonderful opportunity and something that can have a truly Welsh contribution to understanding and improving services for those affected by mental illness.”
Psychological Interview
If you’d like to find out more about the WMHN and becoming a volunteer please visit Take Part.
You can read about more about the NCMH on the BBC news website and the Western Mail and you can see Prof Nick Craddock talk about the appeal for volunteers below or on the Cardiff University website.