Gaining insight on merging clinical practice and research – Wolfson Summer School 2024

I am Debbie, a postgraduate student in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing and a medical doctor. I applied to join the Wolfson Centre Summer School in 2024 after my Personal Tutor on my master’s programme shared the information with me. I was excited to receive the email that my application had been accepted because that meant I could participate in the interesting discussions I had seen highlighted on the programme!

Prior to the start of the Summer School, I had been exploring my interest in young people’s mental health research but wondered how I would merge that with clinical practice. So, I hoped that my participation in the summer school would provide me some insight into this. It did that and more! This three-day online summer school provided extensive research on youth mental health which was presented by experienced practitioners and researchers and discussed by everyone, including participants during the sessions.

Some of my highlights were having the opportunity to network with specialists, who I might not have had access to outside the school. The discussions around youth mental health research were enriched by having the opportunity to hear the experiences and perspectives of participants from different countries. This experience has fueled my interest in youth mental health research, and I got some information for my dissertation too!

I also enjoyed the small group sessions where activities were streamlined to specific interests- clinical, research, and education pathways. I joined the session for clinicians which was presented by clinical academics. I found this helpful because I gained insight on how I could merge my clinical practice with research as the speakers shared their experiences and provided guidance on this.

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed the Wolfson Summer School 2024!

Thank you so much to Debbie for sharing her experience with us.

You can connect with Debbie on social media platforms using the handle:@whollydebbie

Join us in 2025:

Are you interested in joining us for the Wolfson Summer School 2025?

Applications open next March and we would love to hear from you.

Until then, you can sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all the opportunities the Centre has to offer, and keep an eye on our social media channels where we will advertise #WolfsonSummer25