Speaker
Professor Barry Wright
Retired substantive Professor of Child Mental Health at the University of York and in the NHS.
Biography
Barry Wright is a recently retired substantive Professor of Child Mental Health at the University of York and in the NHS.
He worked clinically in the NHS from 1985 until he retired. For much of his clinical life he ran a holistic community multidisciplinary service for children and
young people aged 0-18 and since 2004 a specialised NHS England national service for deaf children. He has also taken leadership roles such as Associate Medical Director and Clinical Director of ten specialist services. He worked at Hull York Medical School since its inception in 2004 and at various times was mental health curriculum lead, Director of student support and Director of Research.
His research interests were mainly around trying to find interventions in child mental health that went broader than medication and one to one talking therapy. He believes very strongly in developing more child friendly, child-oriented interventions that could make more use of nature, the various arts, activities, social networking and technology. These would be both more likely to engage children and also to promote social and emotional development. More randomised controlled trial evidence is necessary to get these types of interventions on the evidenced-based map and this is what he and local research colleagues have set out to achieve with several NIHR and MRC funded studies. He has also sought through clinical practice and research to greatly improve outcomes for deaf children, through establishing a national service and supporting the development of both Deaf and hearing staff across the country who in turn support the mental health of deaf children and their families. He is enjoying beekeeping, reading and walking in retirement.