The Beginning Launch

It is timely that I begin this blog as I am about to embark on my journey as a research student at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. What I hope to accomplish with this blog is a documentation of my learning experiences (both academic and personal) and insights I gain from my research.

And what about my research? I am interested in ‘bridging’ educational and mental health disciplines. I use scare quotes because fundamentally I do not believe that these areas should have been separated in the first place. Educating is about preparing individuals for life and giving them the tools to succeed; this includes, but is not confined to, academic success. There is a growing amount of evidence that suggests poor mental health (e.g., depression) is linked to negative social functioning and economic outcomes (for both the individual and society), as well as low academic achievement.

I would like to continue to provide evidence that there is a need to support mental health in school. This is not to endorse a pathologic approach that some have (unwittingly) labelled the processes of merging educational and mental health practices. Conversely, the intention is to have in place, within schools, a curriculum that fosters healthy psychological states and endows children with skills to maintain these states for the rest of their lives. To understand how to do this, however, might appear to be pathologic in a sense because to obtain an understanding of how something works, it is often necessary to break it down into smaller pieces and study how they all fit together---here, some of these pieces pertain to pathological states.

Ultimately, it is my hope that my research will contribute towards the wider acceptance of a more holistic approach to education. I am aware that this is unrealistic to expect from a single doctoral dissertation, but it is a place to start.

I am looking forward to sharing this journey and hope that you as a reader will also find this information insightful and beneficial.