We were delighted to be joined in the ReSET lab by Anna, an enthusiastic sixth form student who was keen to learn more about ReSET and conducting research projects ahead of applying to study Psychology at University.
During my placement in the Developmental Risk and Resilience at University College London, I spent time with the ReSET team whose project aims to develop and test a new mental health intervention for adolescents. It focuses on three components: being interoceptive, emotion regulation, and having a positive bias when recognising facial expressions.
When first being introduced to these methods of intervention, I was gripped and wanted to help out. As part of my placement, I learnt about scientific communication and writing for different audiences, including coproducing recruitment information sheets for young people (age 12-14 years). This improved my writing and critical skills as I had to be mindful of the younger target audience. I also had the opportunity to learn about data analysis using SPSS including; inputting data, visualising data, data checking and basic operations, which have all prepared me for taking psychology at an undergraduate level. I also found out more about research ethics in mental health research and other projects being run in the field. Furthermore, the ReSET team aided me with personal statement, which was great help and made me feel more confident with my application to my chosen universities. I enjoyed my placement at UCL as not only did the research and data analysis directly link to my studies of psychology at A-Level, but I could relate it to my EPQ looking into the effects of social media on body dysmorphic disorder.
Through this, I have understood that being a young mind helping with mental health research is imperative. One reason is because this placement has helped me (a young mind) decide my future of becoming a clinical psychologist, through giving me an insight into the research conducted to improve our understanding of mental health. I have also aided the teams insight into the young mind by inputting what I think are the main issues adolescents may deal with, such as social media, which I have grown up surrounded with. As well as this, working with the ReSET team has made me certain that I want to assist in researching mental health and spread awareness in my career. This is in order to catalyse a brighter future where we can successfully intervene and support adolescents mental health, which is exactly what the team is beautifully doing.
