Welcome to the Mental Elf. This website will help you find just what you need to keep up-to-date with all of the important and reliable mental health research and guidance.

Our team of mental health experts post blogs every week day with short and snappy summaries that highlight evidence-based publications relevant to mental health practice in the UK and further afield.

All of our blogs are free to read. This is important because our vision for this website is to facilitate a democratic conversation between patients, clinicians, researchers, carers, policy makers, health and social care professionals and others. It’s vital that this discussion takes place in a public space so we can learn from each other.

Our bloggers give their time for free and they are all really keen to contribute because they shared our ethos for clearly communicating evidence-based research to anyone who is interested. This website is very much a group effort.

We scour over 500 sources of evidence (journals, databases, websites) every week, to find key guidance, systematic reviews and other high quality research and reports that will help make your practice more evidence-based. The selection process has no input from any external bodies, publishers, sponsors or commercial organisations.

No bias, no misinformation, no spin, just what you need.

Who started the Mental Elf?

The blog was started by André Tomlin in May 2011. André’s an Information Scientist and has worked in mental health since the late nineties, formerly at the University of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Mental Health and since 2002 as MD of Minervation Ltd an evidence-based healthcare consultancy based in Oxford.

After  2 very successful years of blogging as the Mental Elf, André decided to invite colleagues to join him as contributors to the site. It’s great to involve a wide range of people in this venture, to bring in a fresh perspective and their considerable knowledge and clinical experience.

How is the Mental Elf funded?

The National Elf Service website, which contains the Mental Elf and a number of other elves covering topics from dentistry to social care, was set up by Minervation Ltd. The Founders of Minervation (André Tomlin and Douglas Badenoch) are also Founders and Directors of the National Elf Service. The website is self-funded and receives no money from the pharmaceutical industry or other commercial organisations. We feel that it is important we remain independent from any commercial organisations who work in mental health.

In 2012, we received a small research and development grant from the UK Government to carry out the market research to get our website fully tested and launched.

Does the Mental Elf make money?

All of the National Elf Service blogs (including the Mental Elf) are free. That will always remain so. Contributors are not paid for their blogs, and we only work with people who have no conflict of interest.

However, it costs money to run the website. We generate revenue from Membership. Our members enjoy the added benefits of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) system within the National Elf Service website. This is aimed at students and professionals who need to keep up to date with the latest research in a way that can be linked to their CPD. The CPD system has been built with significant investment from Minervation and is run as a business. We sell individual and institutional subscriptions to this website and our clients include universities, charities, the NHS and local authorities. An institutional subscription includes bulk access to our CPD membership area as well as consultancy support from our team. Find out more by reading our publicity leaflet.

Our plan is to build this business so we can grow the website and include other health topics in our list of elves.

Is the National Elf Service ever paid for content?

No. We do not accept commissioned articles, and we do not work with authors who have a conflict of interest with the paper in question.

Who writes for the Mental Elf?

We have an ever-expanding team of people who contribute to the site. The group includes senior clinicians and researchers, health and social care professionals, academics, service users, students, information scientists and carers.

We’re adding to our network of writers all the time, so find out more if you’re interested in getting involved yourself.

1. Clive Adams, Chair of Mental Health Services Research and Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group at the University of Nottingham
2. Sally Adams, Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Bath
3. Lia Ali, Consultant Psychiatrist for Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
4. Eva Alisic, Psychologist and Research Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia
5. Ahmed Al-Shihabi, Medicine Student at University College London
6. Rachel Allan, Practice Leader for The Royal Mencap Society
7. Rob Allison, Lecturer, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
8. Murtada Alsaif, Pharmacist
9. Ian Anderson, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester
10. Steve Appleton, Managing Director, Contact Consulting
11. Golnar Aref-Adib, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at UCL and Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust
12. Douglas Badenoch, Director of Minervation Ltd
13. Joe Barnby, Research Assistant, University College London
14. John Baker, Chair of Mental Health Nursing at the University of Leeds
15. Andy Bell, Deputy Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health
16. Jonny Benjamin, Mental Health Campaigner, Film Producer, Public Speaker, Writer and Vlogger
17. Laura Bennett, Research Assistant for the Learning Disability Mortality Review Programme (LeDeR) at University of Bristol
18. Clara Belessiotis, Core Trainee in Psychiatry at East London Foundation Trust
19. Victoria Betton, Director of mHabitat
20. Vishal Bhavsar, Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellow in Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry
21. Lisa Bortolotti, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham
22. Helen Bould, Wellcome Trust Doctoral Training Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
23. Simon Bradstreet, Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow
24. Rachel Brand, Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow at Phoenix Australia: Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, The University of Melbourne
25. Josefien Breedvelt, Research Officer, Mental Health Foundation
26. Gerome Breen, Psychiatric Geneticist, King’s College London
27. Simon Brett, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner & MSci student at the University of Reading
28. Amy Broadbent, Research Assistant, Cambridge
29. Matthew Broome, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
30. Mark Brown, Development Director of Social Spider CIC
31. Stefan Brugger, NIHR Academic Clinical Research Fellow at UCL
32. Martin Brunet, GP from the Binscombe Medical Centre
33. Kjetil Gundro Brurberg, Researcher in the Division of Primary Care and Clinical Procedures, Norwegian Knowledge Center for Health Services in Public Health, Oslo, Norway
34. Jennifer Burgess, Academic Clinical Fellow in General Adult Psychiatry in Newcastle
35. Lisa Burscheidt, Assistant Librarian at North East London NHS Foundation Trust
36. Alastair Canaway, Research Fellow, University of Warwick
37. Victoria Carlisle, PhD Student, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University of Bristol
38. Sarah Carr, Associate Professor of Mental Health Research at Middlesex University, Independent Consultant at Sarah Carr and Associates Ltd
39. Brant Cebulla, Development Director for the Vitamin D Council in California, USA
40. Emma Cernis, Research Assistant, Oxford
41. Iain Chalmers, Coordinator, James Lind Initiative
42. Sarah Chapman, Knowledge Broker at UK Cochrane Centre
43. Paul Christiansen, Lecturer at the University of Liverpool
44. Andrea Cipriani, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford; Editor in Chief of Evidence-Based Mental Health
45. Natasha Clarke, PhD Student at the University of Liverpool
46. Alys Cole-King, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, the Royal College of Psychiatrists Spokesperson on Suicide and Self harm, and the Clinical Director of Connecting with People
47. Elizabeth Collier, Lecturer in Mental Health at the University of Salford
48. Jennifer Collom, Research Assistant, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Kings College London
49. Dean Connolly, Student at University College London
50. Nicola Coop, Assistant Psychologist
51. Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling, School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

52. Samuele Cortese, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant Child Psychiatrist at Solent NHS Trust

53. Elana Covshoff, Programme Manager, SHRINE
54. Marie Crabbe, Research Assistant, Oxford Health Foundation NHS Trust
55. Jake Crawshaw, PhD candidate at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London
56. Ioana Cristea, Associate Professor at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca and a Research Fellow at the University of Pisa, Italy
57. Jazz Croft, PhD candidate, Centre for Academic Mental Health, University of Bristol
58. Ian Cummins, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Salford
59. Emily Currell, MSc Student at University College London
60. David Daley, Professor of Psychological Intervention and Behaviour Change at the University of Nottingham
61. Sasha Danilina, PhD Student at University College London
62. Suzanne Dash, Graduate-Entry Medicine Student at the University of Oxford
63. Geoff Davies, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University of Surrey
64. Kelly Davies, Lecturer in Mental Health, University of York
65. John M Davis, Professor of Psychiatry and Research Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago
66. Jennifer de Bayer, Research Coordinator, Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Oxford University
67. Derek de Beurs, Senior Mental Health Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL)
68. Caroline De Brun, Knowledge and Evidence Manager, Public Health England Knowledge and Library Services
69. Angharad de Cates, Psychiatry Registrar and Honorary Research Fellow at Warwick Medical School
70. Jill Domoney, Clinical Psychologist and Researcher, Section of Women’s Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
71. Ailsa Donnelly, Lay Chair of the PRIMER group
72. Muna Dubad, PhD Student, University of Warwick
73. Jay Duckworth, PhD Student, University of Liverpool
74. Thalia Eley, Professor of Developmental Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Kings College London
75. Edzard Ernst, Emeritus Professor at Exeter University
76. Michelle Eskinazi, MSC Student at University College London & Core Psychiatry Trainee at Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust
77. Norah Essali, Medical student, University of Kalamoon, Syria
78. Pete Etchells, Senior Lecturer in Biological Psychology, Bath Spa University
79. Katie Evans, Head of Research and Policy at Money and Mental Health
80. Alison Faulkner, Survivoer Researcher and Trainer in Mental Health
81. Mina Fazel, Associate Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry and Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
82. Matt Field, Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool
83. Caroline Fiennes, Director, Giving Evidence
84. Meg Fluharty, Research Assistant, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University of Bristol
85. Andrés Fonseca, Consultant Psychiatrist, CEO of Health eLiving Partnership, Honorary Lecturer at UCL
86. Tamsin Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Exeter
87. Alexander Foster, Research Worker in Global Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
88. Una Foye, Research Officer, Mental Health Foundation
89. Suzi Gage, Lecturer in Psychology and Epidemiology at the University of Liverpool
90. Linda Gask, Emerita Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Manchester
91. Clarissa Giebel, Researcher and PhD student, PSSRU, University of Manchester
92. Maria Giorgalli, Student, MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at University College London
93. Laura Godfrey-Isaacs, Artist, Midwife and Birth Activist
94. Guy Goodwin, Professor of Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Oxford
95. Sophie Graham, Medical Student, Newcastle University
96. Amy Green, Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Bristol
97. Ellen Grimas, PhD Student, Imperial College
98. Ian Hamilton, Lecturer in Mental Health in the Department of Health Sciences at York University
99. Terry Hanley, Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology, University of Manchester
100. Ben Hannigan, Reader in Mental Health Nursing in the School of Healthcare Sciences at Cardiff University
101. Keir Harding, Occupational Therapist, Cynnwys (together), the personality disorder service in Cardiff
102. Amanda Harris, Psychologist and Director of the Australian Child & Adolescent Trauma, Loss & Grief Network
103. Judith Harrison, Welsh Clinical Academic Training Fellow, Cardiff University
104. Camille Hart, Psychiatric Trainee Doctor, Queen’s University, Belfast
105. Helge Hasselmann, Research Masters Student in Clinical and Cognitive Neurosciences at Maastricht University
106. Simon Hatcher, Full Professor of Psychiatry at The University of Ottawa
107. Joseph Hayes, Clinical Training Fellow, UCL Division of Psychiatry
108. Laura Hemming, PhD Student, University of Manchester
109. Sarah Hetrick, Associate Professor in Youth Mental Health, University of Auckland
110. Jessamy Hibberd, Chartered Clinical Psychologist
111. Kerrie-Anne Ho, PhD Candidate, University of New South Wales, Australia
112. Chris Hollis, Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Nottingham and Consultant in Developmental Neuropsychiatry with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
113. Mark Horowitz, Training Psychiatrist from Australia who is completing a PhD at King’s College London
114. Maxine Howard, PhD student at University College London
115. Dochka Hristova, Project Coordinator for the National Elf Service
116. Samei Huda, Consultant Psychiatrist, Pennine Care, Manchester
117. Liz Hughes, Professor of Mental Health at University of Huddersfield and South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
118. Neil Humphrey, Professor of Psychology of Education and Head of the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester
119. Jane Iles, Clinical Psychologist working in CAMHS and Research Associate at Imperial College London
120. Udita Iyengar, Project Manager in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
121. Pamela Jacobsen, Clinical Psychologist and NIHR Research Fellow at King’s College London
122. Alex Jarram, PhD student at University College London
123. Sameer Jauhar, Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry
124. Sam Jee, Research Associate at the University of Manchester
125. Sonia Johnson, Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at UCL, Director of the NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit
126. Susie Johnson, Recent Graduate from Bristol University
127. Mandy Johnstone, Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Edinburgh
128. Andrew Jones, Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool
129. Ian Jones, Professor of Perinatal Psychiatry at Cardiff University, Director of the Welsh National Centre for Mental Health
130. Jonathan Jones, PhD Psychology student at the University of Exeter
131. Mona Jones, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, AnDY Research clinic, University of Reading
132. Dan Joyce, Clinical Lecturer at Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, Junior Doctor in general adult psychiatry
133. Joe Judge, Clinical Psychologist, Hamilton Psychological Therapies Team, Lanarkshire, Scotland
134. Dafni Katsampa, Research Assistant, UCL Division of Psychiatry
135. Eleanor Kennedy, PhD Student at Bristol Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University of Bristol
136. Patrick Kennedy-Williams, Trainee Clinical Psychologist & Doctoral Student, University of Oxford
137. Olivia Kirtley, Research Assistant, University of Glasgow
138. Pooky Knightsmith, Speaker, Lecturer, Trainer, Author and Vice Chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition
139. Sarah Knowles, Research Fellow, NIHR School for Primary Care Research
140. Stanley Kutcher, Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health and the Director WHO Collaborating Care in Mental Health Policy and Training at Dalhousie University and IWK Health Centre in Canada
141. Jennifer Laidlaw, PGY-5 Resident in Psychiatry, University of Toronto
142. Danielle Lamb, Programme Manager of the AD-CARE study at the UCL Division of Psychiatry
143. Nicky Lambert, Director of Teaching and Learning Mental Health, Social Work and Integrative Medicine at Middlesex University
144. Alex Langford, Psychiatrist, Oxford
145. Jennifer Lau, University Lecturer at the University of Oxford. Director of the Researching Emotional Disorders and Development (REDD) lab
146. Keith Laws, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology at the University of Hertfordshire
147. Kirsten Lawson, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist and Clinical Lead for Liaison Psychiatry Services at Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust
148. Caroline Leah, Senior Lecturer and Social Worker based at Manchester Metropolitan University
149. William Lee, Clinical Associate Professor (Reader) in Psychiatry at Plymouth University
150. Simon Leigh, Health Economist at Lifecode® Solutions and Nexus Clinical Analytics, Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool
151. Gemma Lewis, University College London
152. Karina Lovell, Director of Research and Professor of Mental Health, University of Manchester
153. Colleen Loo, Professor of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
154. Raluca Lucacel, PhD Student, Cluj Napoca, Romania
155. Maartje Luijten, Assistant Professor, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
156. James MacCabe, Reader in the Epidemiology of Psychosis at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
157. Lucy Maddox, NHS Clinical Psychologist, Lecturer and BSA Media Fellow
158. Sarah Man, Staff Nurse, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit
159. Sammy Man, Clinical Psychologist
160. Farhana Mann, Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow at University College London and Specialist Registrar (ST6) in General Adult Psychiatry in North London
161. Warren Mansell, Reader in Clinical Psychology at the University of Manchester
162. Elena Marcus, Research Assistant at the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and University College London
163. Joanna Martin, PhD Student at Cardiff University
164. Steven Marwaha, Reader, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
165. Lisa Marzano, Associate Professor in Psychology at Middlesex University
166. Timothy Matthews, Postdoctoral Researcher, King’s College London
167. Olivia Maynard, Research Associate, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at the University of Bristol
168. Edel Mc Glanaghy, Clinical Psychologist with NHS Forth Valley and a Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University
169. Sarah McDonald, Clinical Psychologist
170. Iain McDougall, Specialist trainee in General Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Belfast
171. Carla McEnery, Provisional Psychologist and PhD candidate, Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne
172. Andrew McIntosh, Professor of Biological Psychiatry in the University of Edinburgh Division of Psychiatry
173. Kwame McKenzie, CEO of Wellesley Institute
174. John McGowan, Director and Academic Director of the Clinical Psychology Training Scheme at the Salomons Centre for Applied Psychology, Kent
175. Kate McLaughlin, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington, USA
176. Chris Miller, Research Assistant at the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
177. Kathryn Mitchell, Core Psychiatry Trainee working in the Belfast Trust, Northern Ireland
178. Mark Monaghan, Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy at the University of Loughborough
179. Stephen Moore, Inpatient Psychiatrist in the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital, Northern Ireland
180. Paul Morrison, Psychiatrist and Researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, KCL
181. Michelle Moulds, Professor and PLuS Alliance Fellow, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia
182. Claire Mokrysz, PhD Student, University College London
183. John Moriarty, Research Fellow, University of Belfast
184. Marcus Munafò, Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol
185. Monisha Nahar, MSc Student, UCL
186. Akshay Nair, Wolfson Clinical Research Fellow, University College London
187. Josephine Neale, Trainee Psychiatrist in North London
188. Natalie Nelissen, Research Fellow at mHabitat
189. Rosalyn Nelson, Assistant Psychologist, North Wilts Memory Service, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
190. Jill Newby, Senior Lecturer, MRFF/NHMRC Career Development Fellow and Research Director of the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney
191. Nicola Newhouse, Researcher at Health Experiences Research Group, University of Oxford
192. Claire Niedzwiedz, Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health at the University of Edinburgh
193. Peter Norton, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Monash FEAR Clinic
194. Aileen O’Brien, Reader in Psychiatry and Education & Dean for Students at St George’s University of London
195. Elly O’Brien, Information Scientist, London
196. Siobhan O’Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University
197. Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Consultant in Public Health in Bradford & Airedale and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leeds
198. Chris O’Sullivan, Mental Health Foundation
199. Michael Ostacher, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
200. Dennis Ougrin, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
201. Gozde Ozakinci, Health Psychologist and Lecturer in health psychology at the University of St Andrews
202. Geoff Page, Research Fellow, University of York
203. Laurence Palfreyman, Assistant Psychologist in South London
204. Harry Palmer, Programme Coordinator, Mental Health Research Programme, Veterans and their Families (UK), Centre for Mental Health
205. Carmine Pariante, Professor of Biological Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust
206. Jennie Parker, Senior Researcher at the McPin Foundation
207. Christopher Pell, In-patient General Adult Psychiatrist at the Susan Carnegie Centre in Angus, Scotland for NHS Tayside
208. Elvira Perez Vallejos, Associate Professor Digital Tech for Mental Health, University of Nottingham
209. Serap Pinar, Biomedical and Molecular Science Research (M.Sc) from King’s College London
210. Vanessa Pinfold, Co-Founder & Research Director at the McPin Foundation
211. Alexandra Pitman, Senior Clinical Lecturer in the UCL Division of Psychiatry and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust
212. Rudiger Pittrof, Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
213. Belinda Platt, Post-Doc at the LMU University Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
214. Inês Pote, Research Officer for the Early Intervention Foundation
215. Amy Price, Trustee of the ThinkWell charity where she leads the PLOT-IT (Public Led Online Trials-Infrastructure and Tools) project
216. Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, University of Cambridge
217. Matt Ravenhall, Final year Biology student at the University of York
218. Stefan Rennick-Egglestone, Digital Research Specialist, University of Nottingham
219. Laoise Renwick, Lecturer at the University of Manchester
220. Shirley Reynolds, Director of the Charlie Waller Institute and Professor of Evidence Based Psychological Therapies at the University of Reading
221. Thomas Richardson, Principal Clinical Psychologist at Solent NHS Trust
222. Abi Rose, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Liverpool
223. Diana Rose, Professor of User-Led Research, Head of Section and Co-director Service User Research Enterprise (SURE), King’s College London
224. Rachel Rowan-Olive, Mental Health Service User/Survivor, Illustrator, and graduate student at Birkbeck, University of London
225. Sarah Rowe, Lecturer on the MSc Clinical Mental Health Sciences and MSc Mental Health Sciences Research, UCL Division of Psychiatry
226. Tobias Rowland, Academic Clinical Fellow, University of Warwick
227. Katharine Sacks-Jones, Director of Agenda
228. Emma Saddleton, Research Worker and part-time MSc student at the Institute of Psychiatry, London
229. Tatiana Salisbury, Lecturer in Global Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
230. Paul Salkovskis, Director of the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Oxford Centre for Cognitive Therapy
231. Christopher Sampson, Health Economist at the University of Nottingham
232. João Santos, Research Associate and Data Manager, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester
233. Martyna Sawicka, Data Collection Coordinator, Arizona Twin Project at Arizona State University
234. Ava Schulz, Postdoctoral Researcher on the OPTIMAX project
235. Susanne Schweizer, Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow in the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscienc
236. Lucas Shelemy, PhD Researcher, University of Reading
237. Andrew Shepherd, Doctoral research Fellow at the University of Manchester and Higher Trainee in Forensic Psychiatry
238. Hilary Shepherd, MSc Dementia student at University College London
239. Luke Sheridan-Rains, Research associate in the NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit, UCL Division of Psychiatry
240. Lucy Simons, Research Fellow at NIHR MindTech Healthcare Technology Cooperative, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham
241. Mark Smith, IAPT Clinician working for Steps2Change and independent Psychotherapist Trainer
242. Francesca Solmi, Research Associate, Division of Psychiatry, University College London
243. Andrew Sommerlad, PhD Fellow, University College London
244. Sophie Stammers, Research Fellow on Project PERFECT at the University of Birmingham
245. Emily Stapley, Research Fellow in the Evidence Based Practice Unit at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and UCL
246. David Steele, Junior Doctor with an interest in psychology, psychiatry and public health
247. Becci Strawbridge, Mental Health Research, IoPPN, King’s College London
248. Caroline Struthers, Education and Training Manager for the EQUATOR Network
249. Shuichi Suetani, Psychiatrist at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research & Queensland Brain Institute
250. Harry Sumnall, Professor in Substance Use, Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University
251. Irene Sutcliffe, Lived experience expert
252. Rebecca Syed, Researcher, King’s College London
253. Edward Sykes, Senior Press Manager and Head of Mental Health & Neuroscience, Science Media Centre
254. Danny Taggart, Academic Director, Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of Essex
255. Marcus Tan, Academic Clinical Fellow at Plymouth University School of Medicine
256. Andrew Thompson, Clinical Health Psychologist, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
257. Rupert Thurston, Junior Doctor working in General Adult Psychiatry in the West Midlands
258. Caroline Tomes, Public Health Specialty Registrar currently working in Cambridge
259. André Tomlin, Managing Director of Minervation Ltd
260. John Torous, Director of the Digital Psychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
261. Derek Tracy, Consultant Psychiatrist and Associate Clinical Director for crisis, inpatient, and rehabilitation services at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
262. Alison Turner, Head of the Evidence Analysis team within the Strategy Unit at NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit
263. Alan Underwoord, Specialist Clinical Psychologist
264. Raphael Underwood, PhD candidate at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
265. Noortje Uphoff, Research Fellow, Cochrane Common Mental Disorder, University of York
266. Rachel Upthegrove, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Birmingham
267. Anne-Laura van Harmelen, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
268. Kathryn Walsh, Research Associate at the University of Birmingham
269. Joanne Wallace, Graduate Entry Medical Student at The University of Warwick
270. Michael Walton, PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University
271. Jingyi Wang, Research Associate, UCL
272. Fiona Warner-Gale, Joint Director of Associate Development Solutions Ltd
273. Andrew Watson, Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh
274. Sarah Watts, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and Clinical Lead with the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust South Staffordshire IAPT teams
275. Jasmin Wertz, PhD Student, Kings College London
276. Simon Wessely, Chair of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences (IoPPN), King’s College London
277. Danny Whiting, Forensic Psychiatrist and NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow with the Forensic Psychiatry Research Group at the University of Oxford
278. Michael Wigelsworth, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester
279. Lucy Willetts, Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Accredited CBT Therapist
280. Sarsha Wilson, Research Assistant at the NIHR Oxford Cognitive Health Clinical Research Facility
281. Emma Wincup, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of Law at the University of Leeds
282. Katrina Witt, Research Fellow with the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford
283. Stephen Wood, Professor of Adolescent Brain Development and Mental Health at the University of Birmingham
284. Fabio Zucchelli, Sport and Exercise Psychology MSc student

Groups who have blogged

In addition to the individuals who blog for us, we sometimes publish blogs written by groups of people. These are often written as part of a training session or introduction to blogging; sometimes by students, sometimes by health professionals or academics. Here are some of the groups who have written Mental Elf blogs:

1. CAMSTRAND Conference delegates
2. Centre for Affective Disorders, King’s College London
3. Child and Adolescent Mental Health MSc, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
4. Clinical Mental Health Sciences MSc, University College London
5. EQUATOR Publication School
6. Mental Health Studies MSc, King’s College London
7. NPNR Conference delegates
8. PenCLAHRC: NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) South West Peninsula
9. Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health MSc/PGDip/PGCert, King’s College London

Contact us if you’d like André Tomlin to teach blogging and social media in your institution.

Who decides what evidence is included on the website?

We scour over 400 databases, journals, websites and other feeds to bring you the best available mental health evidence.  Items are selected using an evidence-based inclusion criteria to ensure they are relevant to UK practice and based on high quality research, policy and guidance.

The selection process has no input from any external bodies, publishers, sponsors or commercial organisations.

We critically appraise the material we find using the CASP critical appraisal checklists.

Press coverage

• Profile: André Tomlin. BJPsych Bulletin, April 2018.
• André Tomlin: Mental Elf Guru. The Lancet Psychiatry, January 2016.
• Keeping up to date with reliable mental health research: the Minervation white paper. Douglas Badenoch and André Tomlin, 19th May 2015.
• Keeping up to date with mental health research. André Tomlin, The Guardian, 15th Apr 2013.
• Treating mental illness in the digital age. Pete Etchells, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb 2013.
• The Mental Elf. Royal College of Psychiatrists useful resources, eNewsletter, Sep 2012.

Are there more elves for different health topics?

We are adding to our National Elf Service all the time.  Check out these other elves:

• The Child Elf
• The Commissioning Elf
• The Dental Elf
• The Diabetes Elf
• The Education Elf
• The Learning Disabilities Elf
• The Lifestyle Elf
• The Musculoskeletal Elf
• The Social Care Elf
• The Stroke Elf

Contact us if you’d like to discuss collaborating on an elf in your field of interest.