About HOPEFUL

Helping young women find hope where it is needed most

What is HOPEFUL?

HOPEFUL is a package of materials designed to help you become more hopeful and to experience the benefits of hope in your daily life. HOPEFUL is based on a powerful set of research-backed tools. These tools are designed to help you to learn about yourself, to grow and maintain your hope, and to move closer towards live the sort of life that feels meaningful to you. HOPEFUL has been created by working with young people and the people that support them.

You can work through HOPEFUL at your own pace. You can also make choices throughout about how you use the package. Remember too that HOPEFUL is designed to be completed with a mentor – this means someone to help and guide you through the process of becoming more hopeful. of becoming more hopeful. 

HOPEFUL was developed with young people and the people who support them.

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Who can use HOPEFUL?

Currently young women who are not in education, employment and training can use HOPEFUL through being involved in The Looking Forward Project. The Looking Forward Project is a research study in which we are testing the effects of HOPEFUL.

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The crucial role of mentors

Young people and those that support them told us that packages like HOPEFUL work better if young people have some support to use them. HOPEFUL is supported by a mentor that is selected by the young person themselves, someone they know and trust. Mentors have training and guidance to help them to support young people to work through HOPEFUL. Currently, mentors are supporting young women to work through HOPEFUL in The Looking Forward Project.

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Meet the team

Clio Berry

Co-Chief Investigator & Sussex Site Lead

Clio Berry is an academic psychologist working at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She has a long-standing interest in hope and how to help vulnerable people find and maintain it. Her research focuses on using applied psychological science to understand and improve mental health and social outcomes for marginalised young people and students. She is interested in (co)producing the best intervention approaches to integrate mental health care into the communities that young people and students inhabit. She leads The Looking Forward Project and co-developed the HOPEFUL intervention.

Daniel Michelson

Co-Chief Ivestigator

Daniel is a clinical and academic psychologist working at King's College London. His interests centre around mental health prevention, early intervention and recovery-oriented approaches for underserved children, young people, and their families. He conducts research to develop scalable and sustainable implementation strategies for interventions in schools, youth centres and other community settings. He has particular interests in brief psychotherapies and ‘task-sharing’ involving non-specialists. Daniel co-leads The Looking Forward Project and co-developed HOPEFUL.

Lindsay Forbes

Co-Investigator & Kent Site Lead

Lindsay is Professor of Public Health at the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent. Her research interest is testing ways of preventing ill health and improving wellbeing outside the NHS – tackling the root causes before health problems become ‘medical’. She also focuses on developing capability, opportunity and motivation for using and creating evidence to improve the health of the public, particularly in local government. She was involved in co-developing HOPEFUL and making links with people in contact with underserved young people.

Julia Fountain

Co-Investigator & PPI Lead

Julia is a Patient and Public Involvement co-ordinator at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. Julia works to ensure that people with relevant lived experience are included in research and that their voices are heard within research design and delivery. Julia has her own lived experience as the parent of a young woman who was NEET from the age of 15 who received help and support from a mentor. Julia also has a voluntary sector background working with people with a range of mental health issues. Julia is a co-investigator on the Looking Forward Project and was involved in co-developing the HOPEFUL intervention.

Paul McCrone

Co-Investigator

Paul is a Professor of Healthcare Economics at the University of Greenwich where he has been since 2019. He leads a growing group of health economists at the University who are involved in a wide variety of projects. He was previously based at King’s College London. He has worked on many economic studies in health and social care. His focus is on mental health economics, and he has worked closely with colleagues in the UK, Europe, and Asia. He also teaches health economics, supervises PhD students, and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. He has led health economics courses in the UK, Ethiopia, and Singapore.

Arti Makwana

Research Assistant

Arti works at the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent, on a range of projects across public health, social care, and policy research. She particularly interested in improving care and support for people experiencing mental ill health, addressing mental health inequalities, and challenging mental health stigma.
Her role on The Looking Forward Project involves working with organisations across Kent and Medway to identify and refer young women to participate in the trial. She also engages with young women to invite their consent to participate in the study, and to complete study questionnaires.

Safi Smith

Research Assistant

Safi is a research assistant working at Brighton and Sussex medical school. She has a particular interest in understanding the experience of mental ill health from different perspectives, especially those of women. Her role on The Looking Forward Project involves working with organisations across Sussex to identify and refer young women to participate in the trial and to engage with young women to invite their consent to participate in the study, and to complete study questionnaires.

Charlotte Rawlinson

Trial Manager

Charlotte is a Trial Manager with an interest in supporting and delivering high quality research in psychology, neurology and public health. Before working at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Charlotte has supported multiple large research studies at University College London as a Research Assistant and Trial Manager. Charlotte is now the Trial Manager for The Looking Forward Project, ensuring that the project runs smoothly, supporting the project staff and is the main point of contact for queries.

Stephen Bremner

Co-Investigator

Stephen is the lead medical statistician at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Much of his research is in the design, analysis and reporting of randomised trials in mental health, testing behavioural interventions against usual care, often in community settings. Previously he supported research at the Newham Centre for Mental Health whilst working at Queen Mary University of London.

Julia Hickson

PPI Coordinator

Julia is a Patient and Public Involvement Co-ordinator at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. She primarily coordinates the Youth PPI Cafe - a group for those aged 11-25 with lived experience of mental health, to share their opinions on research design and delivery. Her role in The Looking Forward Project involves engaging and supporting young people with lived experience of being NEET to be involved in the project as peer researchers and as part of our Public Involvement Panel (PIP).

Saskia Eddy

Statistician

Saskia is a Lecturer in Medical Statistics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Saskia previously worked at King's College London as a Trial Statistician and worked in collaboration with NICE and NHS England to successfully commission two interventions for cancer and cerebral palsy. Saskia is a member of the international pilot and feasibility studies (PAFS) collaboration, and is interested in clinical trial methodology, particularly the design, sample size, and conduct of PAFS. Saskia has experience teaching medical (MBBS) and Public Health (MPH) students, as well as NHS professionals about medical statistics and experimental design. Saskia is the trial statistician for the looking forward project, she advises the team on statistical aspects of the project and will perform the data analysis.

Zoe Inman

Research Assistant

Zoe works as a research delivery nurse supporting and delivering studies across Older Persons, Adult Mental Health and Child and Youth Services. Studies may include drug trials, genetic research, wellbeing, and therapy studies. Her role on The Looking Forward Project involves working with organisations across Kent and Medway to identify and refer young women to participate in the trial. She also engages with young women to invite their consent to participate in the study, and to complete study questionnaires.

Testimonials

"Hope is just one of those things that never ends, if you run out and somebody else has got hope, they can push you to find it."

Sophie

26 years

"It's all really helpful. It's set out really well, the layout of it, the theme, the videos, it's all really good, down to other people's stories, which is really nice to hear."

Indy

21 years

"It's pushed me to do the things that I want to do and the things that are meaningful to me."

Kit

24 years

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