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The focus of Born in Bradford is shifting, as young people in the study start to play a more active role in shaping the research. In this programme the focus is on mental health, as schools grapple with how lockdown has affected pupils and hospitals report an increase in referrals following self-harm and a range of anxiety related conditions. Winifred Robinson investigates and talks to young people about how research might help them and how they handle the pressures they feel.

Fifteen year old Billy has already benefited from a more pro-active approach to mental health and new links between the NHS and the 38 secondary schools across Bradford. He was feeling tired and lethargic during the pandemic and struggled to complete online lessons at home. His head teacher at the Keighley University Academy, Jon Scurr, invited him to take part in a new counselling service and he began addressing his problems, starting with prioritising his worries:

"I told the NHS practitioner about passing people me on the pavement and my fear of not knowing what strangers would do to me. She got me to explain the impact of this, how I'd tremble and my palms would get sweaty and she explained what to do in that process. It was such a help - that was all I needed to do, I feel so much better. Before I didn't feel energised and now I feel like studying and feel in control."

For other head teachers the focus as Born in Bradford moves into this new phase will also bring opportunities to assess how pupils handle the move from primary to secondary school. Lynette Clapham is the head of Crossley Hall Primary and is worried about how covid will place extra pressures on year six pupils already worried about how they will cope:

"Change makes adults anxious and children anxious. It’s also an added concern that they haven’t been able to visit their new schools because of covid. We have to prepare them for what's next; we are on borrowed time with them. Some of the children are going to high schools on their own and not with friends from here – so far they haven’t had the chance to meet others and get ready for what’s ahead."

Dr John Wright, who heads Born in Bradford, is excited by the new phase of research as the 13,000 Born in Bradford children move through their teenage years: “it’s a remarkable period in life never do you get such change and transition and that’s biological psychological and social change.

“There’s a metamorphosis from being a child to an adult and it’s a time of great change and experimentation. It’s also a time of great change in our mental health - over half of mental disorders start in adolescence and we are very keen to understand the causes and what we can do and to track what happens over time