'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast

In this episode of the Mind the Kids, Clara Faria speaks with Professor Nathalie Auger and Professor Howard Steiger about new research exploring how maternal anorexia nervosa may influence children’s mental health and neurodevelopment.
Using a large population-based cohort, the study examines links between maternal eating disorders and outcomes such as anorexia nervosa, attentional difficulties, and other psychiatric risks in offspring. The discussion highlights the role of genetic vulnerability, environmental exposure, and epigenetic mechanisms, offering a nuanced understanding of how risk is transmitted across generations.
The episode also considers important clinical implications, including the benefits of early treatment, the importance of reducing stigma, and how supporting maternal mental health can improve outcomes for future generations.
A must-listen for professionals in child and adolescent mental health, psychiatry, psychology, and anyone interested in eating disorders and developmental research.
Read the CAMH journal paper ‘Maternal anorexia nervosa and risk of mental and neurodevelopmental morbidity in offspring'
Sam Amar, Gabriel Côté-Corriveau, Mimi Israël, Howard Steiger, Nancy Low, Nicholas Chadi, Émilie Brousseau, Nahantara Lafleur, Nathalie Auger
First published: 02 December 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.70051
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In this episode of Mind the Kids, Clara Faria is joined by Dr. Ariadna Albajara-Saenz and Dr. Amirah Wahdi to discuss adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries, drawing on findings from a major cross-country study published in JCPP Advances. 
The conversation explores mental health measurement across 12 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, the challenges of comparing data across cultures, and why issues such as food insecurity, gender, and service access matter for global child and adolescent mental health research.
Together, they examine the importance of culturally sensitive mental health measures, the complexities of conducting large-scale international surveys, and what future research should prioritise to improve understanding and support for young people worldwide.
Read the paper ‘Mental health measures among adolescents in 12 low- and middle-income countries: Measurement invariance and cross-sectional analyses of Disrupting Harm survey data’ - https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70087
Ariadna Albajara Sáenz, Sebastian Kurten, Jennifer Saxton, Daniel Kardefelt-Winther, Tamsin Ford, Amy Orben, Simon R. White
First published: 04 December 2025
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Welcome to Mind the Kids, exploring cutting-edge child and adolescent mental health research. In this episode host Clara Faria, a child psychiatry fellow, welcomes Professor Tamsin Ford, University of Cambridge to discuss over diagnosis.
The episode covers key surveys from Tamsin's group looking at data including ADHD and autism trends. Plus Clara and Tamsin talk about emotional disorder increases, rigorous multi-informant assessments, NHS waiting lists, school-based supports, private sector challenges, and AI's potential for equitable care. Don't miss this evidence-based discussion for parents, teachers, and professionals!
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Welcome to Mind the Kids, the ACAMH podcast where research meets real-world practice in child and adolescent mental health. In this episode, 'Anxiety, does the apple fall far from the tree?', Dr. Jane Gilmour and Professor Umar Toseeb explore whether anxiety runs in families, what the latest research says about clinically anxious parents and children’s anxiety disorders, and how genetic, environmental, and family factors may shape risk.
Joining them is Dr Sigrid Elfström, lead author of a population-based study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The conversation also looks at why diagnosis is not destiny, why prevention matters, and how to communicate risk without parent blaming.
They discuss whether anxiety can be transmitted through family processes, what the findings mean in practice, and how clinicians and parents can think about risk without assuming it is deterministic.
This episode covers: Children’s anxiety disorders. Clinically anxious parents. Parent-child mental health. Genetic and environmental influences. Family processes and prevention. Evidence-based child mental health research.
Read the paper 'A detailed investigation of anxiety disorders in children of clinically anxious parents: a population-based study' - https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70085
Sigrid Elfström, Susanne Wicks, Christina Dalman, Johan Åhlén
First published: 04 December 2025
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What does it take to support children’s mental health and learning when their classrooms are in the middle of a conflict zone?
In this Mind the Kids episode ‘Delivering School Intervention: Culture, Context and Conflict’ we explore how research can really work for children and young people in the real world, not just on paper.
Dr. Jane Gilmour and Professor Umar Toseeb sit down with Professor Jean Francois Trani to delve into a classroom based psychosocial intervention delivered in rural Afghan primary schools during a period of political upheaval.
Together, they unpack how an international research team and local community partners co designed and delivered a universal, school based programme that aimed to improve mental health, boost learning, and reduce stigma in a setting marked by decades of conflict. They discuss what it means to adapt activities to local culture, the difference between accumulated and intergenerational trauma, and why task shifting to trained community members can be so powerful in low resource settings.
If you’re interested in community led interventions, global South research, or how universal school provision can support both wellbeing and inclusion, you won’t want to miss this.
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