Our journey: building understanding, inspiring innovation, improving young people’s mental health
Since 2019, YPMH has worked with researchers, clinicians, parents, carers and organisations across the mental health ecosystem to build a more joined-up understanding of depression in young people and identify practical ways to improve outcomes.
Our work began with a simple but important question: how can we better understand why depression develops so that we can prevent it, identify it earlier and improve outcomes for young people?
By bringing together research and collaborating with experts across a range of fields, we have developed a joined-up model of depression and identified practical opportunities for prevention, early intervention, diagnosis, management and treatment. This journey has led to a series of publications, new collaborations and approaches designed to help translate research into real-world impact – faster and more effectively.
2019 – Building the foundations
In 2019, we began reviewing the research literature and collaborating with researchers and specialists from around the world to better understand the complex relationships between the biological, psychological and social factors that contribute to depression in young people.
This also marked the beginning of our collaboration with researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) and with IfM’s knowledge transfer company, IfM Engage. This brought together expertise in engineering, systems thinking, innovation management and mental health to explore depression from a different perspective.
Together, we started developing a joined-up understanding of the vulnerability factors and mechanisms involved in depression, and how they interact throughout a young person’s life. This work laid the foundations for everything that followed.
2020 – Connecting evidence and generating ideas
Building on these foundations, we used engineering approaches, including root cause analysis and process flow diagrams, to explore how biological mechanisms interact with psychological, social and environmental influences. These included potentially modifiable factors such as food and nutrition physical activity, sleep and chronic stress, as well as underlying health conditions.
In September 2020, we published our first report, Changing Minds. It:
- explained why a new approach was urgently needed to understand and address depression in young people
- set out existing knowledge about the psychological, biological and social contributors to depression and how they form joined-up pathways, providing a basis for discussion and for identifying promising opportunities for innovation
- showed how innovation and technology management techniques researched by IfM and applied by IfM Engage could help build consensus about what a new approach should involve and the steps needed to achieve it
- invited researchers, clinicians, policymakers, research funders, healthcare managers, regulators, companies, young people and families to contribute to this ambition
During 2020 and 2021, we brought together approximately 150 researchers, clinicians, young people, parents and other stakeholders through a series of online workshops. These discussions helped test and refine the emerging model, identify gaps in current understanding and generate new ideas for preventing, detecting and treating depression.
By connecting expertise from across disciplines, we began identifying opportunities to improve mental health before depression develops, as well as ways to support those already experiencing it.
2021 – Publishing Changing Hearts, Changing Minds
This work culminated in the publication of Changing Hearts, Changing Minds in September 2021.
The report brought together the evidence developed between 2019 and 2021, describing how biological, psychological and social factors interact to influence depression in young people. It also identified around 200 opportunities for innovation across prevention, prediction, early detection, diagnosis, management and treatment.
The project demonstrated how collaboration across the mental health ecosystem can generate practical ideas extending beyond healthcare alone, recognising the important roles of young people, families, schools, charities, communities and wider support systems.
In the same year, research co-funded by YPMH was published in Brain Sciences, contributing to the evidence base concerning the interconnected biological, psychological and social determinants of depression. By August 2026, the paper had been cited more than 700 times, according to Google Scholar.
2022 – Turning understanding into action
Following the publication of Changing Hearts, Changing Minds, our focus shifted towards translating the opportunities identified into projects capable of improving outcomes for young people.
During 2022 and 2023, a further group of approximately 150 stakeholders contributed through workshops, consultations and interviews. Some had participated in the earlier work, while others brought new perspectives. They included young people, parents and carers, healthcare professionals, educators, businesses, charities, researchers and innovators. Together, we validated unmet needs, refined potential projects and examined their likely impact and feasibility.
This work refined YPMH’s framework for understanding the factors involved in depression, identified important areas for action and explored how different organisations and sectors could work together to create communities that better support young people’s mental health. It also strengthened collaborations between organisations interested in developing and testing new approaches.
2023 – Publishing Changing Minds, Changing Lives and Gone Too Soon
In April 2023, we published Changing Minds, Changing Lives, building on the work of the previous four years.
The report introduced YPMH’s vulnerability factors and mechanisms model for depression and identified 45 projects addressing important unmet needs. It also explored how individuals, families, schools, employers, healthcare providers, charities and other organisations each have a role in protecting, sustaining and improving young people’s mental health.
By moving from understanding depression to identifying practical solutions, the report represented an important step towards translating research into action.
YPMH also co-funded Gone Too Soon with MQ Mental Health Research. The project brought together an international panel of 40 experts in research, clinical practice, policy and lived experience. Through evidence reviews, consultation and a structured roadmapping process led by IfM Engage, the panel examined why people with mental illness and mental distress die prematurely through suicide and associated physical health conditions, and identified priorities for action.
The resulting review, Gone Too Soon: priorities for action to prevent premature mortality associated with mental illness and mental distress, was published online in May 2023 and appeared in the June 2023 issue of The Lancet Psychiatry. It identified 12 overarching risk factors and mechanisms and 18 actionable solutions. These were organised around three principles: integrating mental and physical healthcare; prioritising prevention while strengthening treatment; and coordinating interventions across individuals, families, communities, services and wider society. The review emphasised that solutions should be co-designed with people with lived and living experience and accompanied by action to reduce stigma, discrimination, marginalisation and social inequality.
By August 2026, the review had been cited more than 130 times according to Google Scholar.
2024 – Making evidence more accessible
In 2024, YPMH brought together five years of research, collaboration and innovation to define the next stage of our work.
Building on our collaboration with IfM researchers and IfM Engage, we co-developed the Understand : Innovate : Implement approach. It provides a structured way to translate research into practical, evidence-informed solutions by bringing together those who understand mental health challenges, those who can develop innovative solutions and those who are best placed to implement them.
We also published Depression – It’s really not all in the mind, bringing together the research and innovation carried out by YPMH since 2019 in an accessible guide for young adults, parents and those working in education, charities, youth organisations and workplaces. The publication outlines how depression can develop and highlights practical actions that can help prevent depression and reduce its severity.
Later that year, we published Changing the Direction of Young People’s Mental Health, setting out YPMH’s work, vision and strategic priorities for improving mental health and wellbeing. It explains how Understand : Innovate : Implement can help accelerate the translation of evidence into practice through greater collaboration across the mental health ecosystem.
Together, these developments marked an important milestone in YPMH’s journey, moving beyond understanding depression to providing a practical approach for creating meaningful, lasting change.
2025 – Putting evidence into practice
In 2025, YPMH increased its focus on translating research and innovation into practical action through new partnerships.
Through a new collaboration with Anglian Learning, we began supporting schools to select and implement evidence-informed approaches to preventing and identifying mental health conditions such as depression and to supporting pupils experiencing mental ill health. The partnership also provides accessible resources for school staff, parents and carers to improve understanding of the factors that influence young people’s mental health.
We also worked with Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, Nourish Food School and the University of Reading to trial a food and mood cookery course for young people. The course combined practical cooking skills and nutrition education with accessible evidence about the relationships between food, brain health and mental wellbeing, helping young people develop knowledge, confidence and healthier habits.
Looking ahead
Although our understanding of depression has grown significantly, there is still much more to do.
YPMH continues to work with researchers, practitioners, charities, educators, healthcare professionals and other partners to build understanding, inspire innovation and help ensure that evidence reaches the people and organisations that can use it to make a difference.
By continuing to apply YPMH’s Understand : Innovate : Implement approach to accelerate and improve the translation of research into innovations that can be implemented at scale, we aim to help create a future in which fewer children and young people experience mental ill health, and those who do receive earlier, more effective support.