Our guest this episode is Professor John Gallacher, professor of cognitive health at Oxford University and Director of BrainWaves, the UK's largest cohort study focused specifically on adolescent mental health.

What makes this research remarkable isn't just its scale (30,000 16-year-olds, expanding to 50,000+ by 2026), but its fundamental approach: shifting from clinical intervention to population-level wellbeing.

Key themes we explore:

• Why BrainWaves focuses specifically on 16-year-olds and the vision for this lifetime study
• The surprising parallel impact of social media use on both boys and girls
• How the decisions we make in adolescence have lifetime consequences for our health and wealth futures
• The straightforward equation: help everyone feel a bit better, and you reduce the proportion who need specialist help
• Why presenting young people with evidence empowers them to make good choices
• How BrainWaves is developing educational resources and teacher training
• The multi-agency collaboration model that makes research at this scale possible
• An important reminder: the vast majority of young people are not suffering from dire mental health issues

John's belief that young people are agents, not passive victims, runs throughout our conversation. When given evidence rather than lectures, they make good choices.

His advice for anyone worrying about the future? Love yourself.

Find out more: brainwaveshub.org

For more information about working with Cathy, visit cathywalkerconsulting.uk.

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