Laura Manistre Mayhew Manistre

(she/her)

BA, MA, MSc AFHEA

Research

MA CAMHS - Young people's views on access and engegement with mental health services. 

ESRC PhD - What works to support care leavers mental health 

CASCADE Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre, Research Assistant on the What Works Centre for Childrens Social Care project - Data colletion, interviews, report writing, qualitative analysis, 

Thesis

What works to support care leaver's mental health and wellbeing in Wales

My study is a Realist Evaluation examining Youth Early Help Hubs, which work to support care experienced young people with their holistic wellbeing and mental health. I examined the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes at play, within the programme, using a theory-led approach to develop an overarching programme theory. A realist literature review formed the initial theory, which was then tested against primary data collected via case studies with organisations. I conducted realist interviews with practitioners, drew on creative participatory methods to work with care-experienced young people and utilised expert consultation. The study demonstrated that early support hubs assist care leavers in key areas including: young people experiencing improved access to support, increased protective factors via trusted adult relationships, improved community integration and connectedness and identity development. Key mechanisms contributing to these outcomes were that young people could access support on their own terms through the voluntary nature of services. Young people felt validated and understood by staff, rather than stigmatised or judged, and they did not need to meet a threshold to access these services. Supporting the needs of care-experienced young people requires a conducive policy context, collaborative and interagency working, and co-located holistic services with a diverse and representative staff team, providing a non-clinical and welcoming environment. Furthermore, it is recommended that young people are involved in service development.

Teaching

I have given guest lectures on youth participation in research, youth work theory and working with young people experiencing metnal illness. 

I recently presented a paper on ' Young people's views on access and engagement to mental health services' at Manchester University conference for Collaboration, creativity and complexities; devloping networks and practices of co-production with children and young people; and University of York 9th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health

Supervisors

Nina Maxwell

Principal Research Fellow, CASCADE