Daniel Michelson, PhD

Dr. Daniel Michelson trained in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) at King's and returned as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in 2022. Prior to this, he held academic posts at University of Sussex, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Oxford. He currently works between the IoPPN's Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where he is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

His research is concerned with preventing and treating common mental health problems among underserved children, young people and their families. To this end, he is working on (i) studying how social and cultural contexts affect youth mental health, ill-health and help-seeking; (ii) co-designing psychosocial interventions and other practice innovations with disadvantaged and seldom-heard groups; (iii) investigating outcomes and implementation processes in pragmatic trials and service evaluations; and (iv) integrating data to understand how, when, why and for whom interventions are (and are not) effective.

He collaborates with partners in the UK and internationally to generate and translate evidence in diverse settings outside of traditional clinics. This includes projects in primary and secondary schools, children's centres, voluntary youth services and community spaces such as barbershops. There is a strong focus on scalable early interventions, incorporating brief delivery formats, transdiagnostic practice elements, digital platforms and task-sharing models of care provided by peers and paraprofessionals. Participatory approaches are emphasised so that research methods and outputs are grounded in lived experience.