Dr Barbara Mezes BA, MSc, PhD

Personal Statement

I am a mental health researcher particularly interested in the psychosocial determinants, prevention, and psychological treatment of severe and enduring mental health problems, such as bipolar disorder. I am a Psychologist by background and I work on the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology training programme at the University of Liverpool.

I am currently a co-investigator on the Phoenix Takes Flight study, which aims to explore usability and scalability challenges and how community-based organisations delivering social prescribing initiatives can expand and grow within integrated care systems. I am the Principle investigator on the Fylde Coast Research Consortium, which aims to unite stakeholders from the public and voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) sectors to build partnerships, identify ways to address health disparities, and improve wellbeing in the area (https://www.ukri.org/news/researchers-and-local-communities-to-tackle-uk-health-inequalities/).

As a postdoctoral researcher, I focused on evaluating the Resilience Revolution- HeadStart Blackpool programme, which incorporated universal and targeted interventions to increase resilience, prevent mental health problems, and improve mental wellbeing in young people in Blackpool. Prior to this role, I completed my PhD at the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University. My PhD research focused on understanding the personal recovery concept and recovery experiences of people with bipolar disorder.

I am interested in supervising PhD students on:

• Psychological, social, and environmental determinants of mental health and wellbeing
• The psychology of severe and enduring mental health problems, such as bipolar disorder
• Personal recovery, including personalised care/intervention development and outcome assessment
• Community-based mental health provisions, including social prescribing, creative wellbeing practices, and taking a whole system social justice approach to preventing mental health problems and promoting resilience and mental wellbeing
• Health and social care partnerships, including community-university partnerships, place-based partnerships, Integrated Care Systems, and cross-sector partnership working for better mental health.