Led by Professor Kamaldeep Bhui, Professor of Psychiatry, the multi-disciplinary project funded by UK Research and Innovation, across the Medical Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council, began in October 2021.
A collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Falmouth, Kent, Leeds, Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, University College London and Greenwich University, it uses methods including but not limited to arts, animation, film and drawing. ATTUNE had three critical research questions:
- How do young people define and explain mental health and wellbeing, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)?
- What are the lived experiences by which ACEs in diverse young people unfold to affect or protect their mental health?
- Do creative and participatory arts approaches facilitate the generation of new and transformative experiential data to improve understanding and actions for prevention and care interventions?
ATTUNE also explores the experiences of young people living in rural, urban and coastal communities in England. Often, young people who live in rural community seaside towns have fewer opportunities and poorer mental health and young people who live in urban areas may have poorer mental health due to a lack of access green spaces. Research to date shows that access to green spaces is beneficial to good wellbeing.
In total, 74 individuals aged between 10 and 24 participated in the project from the following geographic regions; Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Kent, London, Oxfordshire and Yorkshire. These individuals were from a range of backgrounds, and were all recruited through known organisations. From the conception of the project, Young People Advisory Groups were set up in each region which meet quarterly to feed into the design of different themes of work or ‘work packages’.
There are two tangible outputs that have been produced from Attune:
- A public health trauma-informed resource which has been created and co-designed by young people and professionals using Experience-Based Co-Design known as Validating Voices which is focused on empowering and encouraging young people and professionals to engage in conversations in a validating manner.
- A serious mini game called Ace of Hearts which is focused on several adversities that participants mentioned in ATTUNE. These include; parental bereavement, being a young carer, living in poverty/hard times, the experience of being neurodivergent, having a physical disability and the experiences of gender dysphoria. Early trials indicate that the game may be an effective way to encourage self-reflection, reduce stigma, and support emotional literacy in young users.
In addition to its creative and clinical outputs, ATTUNE also commissioned economic modelling to assess the potential cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Preliminary findings suggest that both Validating Voices and ACE of Hearts could offer measurable benefits to public services over time, including reductions in school exclusions and crisis interventions. These insights have relevance not only for service providers, but for commissioners and policymakers seeking scalable, evidence-based responses to the mental health challenges facing young people today.
© Courtesy of Policy Connect via LinkedIn
On June 30th, the ATTUNE team was invited through Policy Connect to a Parliamentary Roundtable to speak about the power of creative arts, invalidation as an ACE and digital tools to help youth mental health. The roundtable was chaired by Dr Simon Opher MP and attended by various experts in the field such as Alex Coulter, the Director of the National Centre of Creative Health, Sarah Brown, Head of Children, Young People and Perinatal Mental Health NHS England and Sandra Booth, Council for Higher Education in Art and Design. The senior ATTUNE team, along with our young people representative, Srhya Lalh, spoke to ATTUNE’s findings and the importance of participatory research and policy changes based on young people’s asks, such as implementing a trauma informed risk assessment in all government decisions. Important connections were made and ATTUNE hope to continue working with the MPs who were present to make a lasting impact.
The week before, the Attune team also welcomed young people, researchers, clinicians, educators, policymakers, artists and community partners to its final Impact and Dissemination Conference, held at Lumiere Underwood Lofts in London. This event marked the culmination of the four-year programme and served as an opportunity to share findings, reflect on lessons learned, and discuss the future potential of ATTUNE’s outputs and methodologies.
Throughout the day, a visual mural created by Jack Brougham, captured key themes and reflections. Words such as “co-production,” “relational care,” and “creative recovery” were illustrated alongside symbols of connection and trust. The visual facilitation echoed the tone of the event itself—collaborative, interdisciplinary and grounded in dialogue.
In final closing remarks, Professor Bhui reflected on the project’s core commitments and its broader implications for mental health research and practice, emphasising the importance of building inclusive methodologies that recognise complexity, centre lived experience, and allow for both scientific rigour and emotional nuance. He said:
We set out to change the way mental health research is conducted. What ATTUNE has shown is that by working across disciplines—and in genuine partnership with young people—it is possible to generate findings, tools and practices that are not only impactful, but deeply meaningful.”
The conference preceded a final youth focused event in Falmouth on July 8th, called Disrupt the Silence. Designed and delivered by the young people involved in the project, the event offered an immersive and creative space to share insights from four years of participatory research. The day featured performances, exhibitions and interactive installations that explored the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on mental health. Two young people were our co-chairs for the day, taking the attendees through an interactive soundscape on the experience of young people and their mental health, using pass the parcel as a metaphor of being passed around different support services and some of the project’s findings. It also provided an opportunity for young people to thank those who supported them and to reflect on the importance of being seen, heard, and validated in research and services.
Looking ahead, the ATTUNE team will continue working to embed its outputs into settings across England. Validating Voices is being piloted in further education and community settings. ACE of Hearts will undergo broader testing, and a youth-led podcast series titled Attuned Futures is currently in production. A policy brief focusing on the economic impact of early adversity is also in development, with the aim of informing future funding and service planning.
Whilst funded by UKRI, Attune was awarded additional funding from the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford which enabled more young people from across England to participate. Furthermore, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley funded a website and platform for Attune which has enabled a dynamic portal for participants and potential participants to refer to and use with resources to draw upon in their own practice. Find out more about Attune or email Kam Bhui or Harsimran Sansoy.