In the seventh episode of the series, Professor Lennox is joined by Cynthia Germanotta and Dr Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes from Born This Way Foundation, and Professor Mina Fazel from Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, to examine how to best help support the mental health of young people.

Cynthia Germanotta is President and Co-Founder of Born This Way Foundation and Global Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health at the World Health Organization. Cynthia co-founded Born This Way Foundation with her daughter, Lady Gaga, in 2012. Since then, the Foundation has connected with tens of thousands of young people across the world, launched innovative youth-focused programming, and conducted cutting edge research. 

Dr. Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes is Born This Way Foundation’s Director of Research and Evaluation. Dr. Fernandes spearheads the Foundation’s research strategy, providing scientific expertise in the design and implementation of youth-led initiatives and impactful programming. Dr. Fernandes also holds a faculty appointment as an assistant clinical professor of the Child Study Center and in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at the Yale School of Medicine.

Mina Fazel is Professor of Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Her journey into the field of child and adolescent psychiatry was driven by her interest in understanding the impact of environmental factors on mental health. Since 2019, her team has been running the OxWell Student Survey, with over 40,000 children taking part in the 2023 version of the survey, it provides invaluable information for tailoring mental health provision to meet individual needs.

In this episode, they discuss some of Born This Way Foundation’s activities, including the Be There Certificate and #BeKind365, how school-based interventions can help improve the mental health of young people, and the importance of kindness.