Impact Accelerator Awards

Gretchen Bjornstad - University of Exeter

Project Title: Support for Parent Carers in England (SPaCE) Impact Accelerator: Development of training and resources to inform policy and improve practice

Brief Summary: Parents who care for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) often face major challenges that can affect their mental health. Our research—through two projects called SPaCE and SPaCE 2—has shown that these parents are more likely to experience mental health difficulties compared to other parents, yet they are often overlooked by services. Many reported that professionals hadn’t asked about their mental health, and that they had to pay privately for support. At the same time, professionals said they wanted to help but didn’t always feel able to assess or respond to parent carers’ needs. We worked closely with parent carers throughout both projects to better understand these issues and explore what would make a difference.

Together, we created a map of the systems that affect parent carer mental health—looking at how services work (or don’t work) together, what kind of support is available, and how parents’ experiences vary depending on their background or situation. This map is now being developed into an easy-to-understand infographic. The next phase of this work focuses on sharing our findings more widely and making a real impact. We will co-produce a short animation to illustrate how navigating fragmented services affects parent carer mental health and to highlight solutions that can help. This animation will aim to raise awareness and inspire change in both public and professional attitudes toward supporting parent carers. Additionally, we plan to develop training materials including a recorded lecture and resource pack for medical, nursing, and social work trainees, to ensure that future professionals are better equipped to support parent carers.

These materials will also be shared widely through podcasts, media articles, and public engagement. Our team is working with partners across the UK like local parent forums and national charities to ensure our work reflects diverse voices and reaches the people who can help make change happen—whether through policy, professional practice, or better support for families. Parent carers have been at the heart of this work, co-designing the project, shaping the analysis, and guiding every stage of our research and communication. By continuing to listen to and work alongside parent carers, we aim to raise awareness, influence practice, and help create systems that provide better support for families of children with SEND.

Start / end dates: 1.7.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: g.j.bjornstad@exeter.ac.uk

Fiona Duncan - Newcastle University

Project Title: ACCESS-SMI: ACCElerating Services and Support to improve physical health of people living with severe mental ill-health

Brief Summary: TBC

Start / end dates: 1.6.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: Fiona.Duncan@newcastle.ac.uk

Rose Hutton - Keele University

Project Title: Improving awareness of Compassion Focused Therapy for women in prison: Amplifying impact through co-produced knowledge mobilisation resources

Brief Summary: TBC

Start / end dates: 1.7.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: r.hutton@keele.ac.uk

Domenico Giacco - University of Warwick

Project Title: Disseminating EveryStep: Embedding Co-Produced Information for People of Muslim Faith in NHS Talking Therapies Services

Brief Summary: TBC

Start / end dates: 1.9.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: Domenico.giacco@warwick.ac.uk

Gary Lamph - Keele University

Project Title: Exploration of Prison Responses In complex eMotional nEeDs (E-PRIMED) ‘Pathway to Impact’

Brief Summary: TBC

Start / end dates: 1.12.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: g.lamph@keele.ac.uk

Ruth Naughton-Doe - University of York

Project Title: Facilitating further impact on policy and practice from the Coproducing Solutions to Perinatal Loneliness Project

Brief Summary: The Co-producing Solutions to Perinatal Loneliness Project developed recommendations for preventing loneliness experienced by parents during pregnancy and up to two years after birth (the perinatal period). This is important as perinatal loneliness is linked with perinatal mental health problems, which can have lasting negative impacts for parents and children. This follow-on impact grant will

1. Create information booklets for parents and professionals. The booklet will be codesigned and translated into different languages.

2. Create a policy brief which is a two-page summary making recommendations to the UK Government on what they could change to reduce perinatal loneliness.

3. Build a new and improved website and brant to make our information easier to find. We will then share our new resources with policy and practice, including finding and contacting health and social care organisations and teams across England including teams within Local Authorities, Perinatal Mental Health Teams, and local and national voluntary sector perinatal mental health services.

We will then share resources with these teams via the website and in a series of webinars. The National Children’s Bureau has also been commissioned to support us to shape and share our policy brief.

Start / end dates: 1.8.25 - 31.3.26

Contact email: Ruth.naughton-doe@york.ac.uk