Dr Kate Allen

I am a Research Fellow in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research Collaboration (ChYMe) and currently work on a UKPRP-funded project called Kailo. Kailo is a framework which aims to support communities in understanding and addressing the underlying determinants of adolescent mental health. Currently, Kailo is being implemented in two sites: Northern Devon and Newham. I am working with colleagues at Exeter and UCL on a realist evaluation of Kailo to examine how Kailo works, for whom, and under what circumstances. 

I completed my NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC) PhD examining interventions that might have combined impacts on parental domestic violence and abuse, parental mental ill-health, and parental substance misuse in 2023. My work has a strong focus on families, considering how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) cluster and how we might work to improve support for families experiencing clustered-risk. Before my PhD, I worked on a number of research projects involving children and families, including a large randomised controlled trial and process evaluation evaluating the effectiveness of a teacher classroom management course.