Title:

Develop an applied linguistic analysis of young persons' language and communication styles about mental health

Project Outcomes:

A one-day symposium was held involving researchers and young people with an active interest in the field of youth mental health and applied linguistics in health communication and related areas. It facilitated identification of complementary areas of interest and expertise in order to develop collaborative research proposals relating to the language and communication styles of young people about mental health issues.

This project was drawn on as a basis for Nottingham’s English Research Excellence Framework (REF) case study. £200k has since been secured from the ESRC to research the use of social media among young people.

The symposium had also a direct impact on the development of the Integrated Research Group (IRG) ‘Children and Young People Focussed Group’ at the Institute of Mental Health (UoN). This IRG has been developed in consultation with Birmingham based group Youth Space http://www.youthspace.me/ and with the participation of children and young people.

Youth engagement activities within CAsMa -such as the iRights Youth Juries- have also been supported by the youth networks and connections built during this project.