Helena Tuomainen

Profile pic for N&M

Associate Professor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Senior Management Team

Contact Details

email: h.tuomainen@warwick.ac.uk

Helena has more than a decade of experience researching the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people, and families. Her work aims to improve access to mental health support, promote early intervention and prevention, and develop practical, evidence-based solutions that help people thrive. She has led and contributed to a range of national and international research projects, including the European Union-funded MILESTONE project on young people’s transition from child to adult mental health services; InterDine, an MRC-funded project tackling loneliness among university students; PRIMA, an NIHR-funded programme designed to prevent mental health difficulties among young people in multicultural communities; EVATE, a study exploring inequalities in access to eating disorder treatment; Breathe, regular mental wellbeing survey of school pupils in Birmingham; and ISOBAR, a school-based mental and physical health intervention delivered in India and Nigeria. More recently, Helena has led research exploring the information and support needs of families during pregnancy and early parenthood, helping to inform the development of an innovative digital support tool.

At the University of Worcester, Helena leads and supports research across the School of Nursing and Midwifery and contributes to the THRIVE programme, which focuses on improving mental health and wellbeing in rural communities. She is passionate about research that makes a real difference to people’s lives and enjoys working with students, researchers, healthcare professionals, community organisations, and people with lived experience to create new ideas and solutions to improve mental health and wellbeing.

Qualifications

  • PhD Applied Social Studies
  • MSc Nutrition & Sociology

Teaching Interests

Public mental health & wellbeing; nutrition and mental health

Research Interests

Child and adolescent mental health; eating disorders; nutrition and public mental health; co-production; mixed methods

PhD supervision and examination

Helena is a current supervisor for four students (external) and has supervised four students to successful completion. All PhD research projects are related to youth mental health and wellbeing.

Helena has completed PhD examinations for four students at the University of Warwick.

Membership of Professional Bodies

  • Invited member of the Clinical Division of the European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP)
  • International Association of Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) membership
  • The Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health membership

Recent Publications

Chang M, Dobb M, Tuomainen H. Help-seeking and accessing treatment for eating disorders: a systematic review of qualitative studies with a focus on ethnic differences. Journal of Eating Disorders, in press

Palmer C, Patterson P, Tuomainen H. Identification Matters: How Data Sharing Affects Pupil Honesty and Engagement in Universal School Wellbeing Assessments. Journal of Adolescent Health, in press

D’Addazio M, Leone S, Leucci AC, Magno M, Atti AR, Calza S, (…) Tuomainen H, et al. Sex differences in internalising and externalising symptom patterns, pathway and persistence in adolescents receiving psychiatric care: a 2-year follow-up of the MILESTONE European cohort. BMJ Mental Health. 2026;29:e302260. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2025-302260

Chandler L, Li Y, Agarwal D, Antkiewicz J, Chike-Michael J, Giacco D, Jilka S, Mensah D, Saunders I, Toro C, Tuomainen H. Eating Together, Eating Alone: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Associations Between Social Eating Contexts, Mealtime Emotions, Technology Use, and Loneliness in UK University Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2026; 23(6):739. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph23060739

Tuomainen H, Appleton R, Dieleman GC, Franić T, de Girolamo G, Maras A, McNicholas F, Overbeek MM, Purper-Ouakil D, Santosh P, Schulze UME, Street C, Wolke D, Singh SP. Transitions from child to adult mental health care: the evidence-base for ESCAP guidance for clinicians. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2026 Apr 25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03036-0.

Tuomainen H, Appleton R, Asher G, Dieleman GC, Franić T, de Girolamo G, et al. European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) practical guidance for clinicians and mental health services regarding child to adult mental health service transitions and managed discharge at the service boundary. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2026, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-026-03006-6

Williams-Ridgway A, McNeil S, Leung N, Hamilton D, Bilkhu S, Winston A, Tuomainen A. Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on minoritised ethnic young people’s access to eating disorder services in the West Midlands, United Kingdom: a qualitative study. Journal of Eating Disorders 2026 Feb 18;14(1):70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-026-01546-5

Akpan U, Tuomainen H, Bassey A. Effectiveness of mental health literacy interventions for young people in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review. Mental Health & Prevention. 2026; 43 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2026.200530.

Singh SP, Winsper C, Alam NB, Bella-Awusah T, Currie G, Fola-Bolumole OT, Giacco D, Gill P, Goutham S, Iyer SN, Kalha J, Lohumi I, Madan J, Moroni D, Omigbodun O, Pathare S, Srinivasan SP, Smith S, Thakur JS, Rangaswamy T, Tuomainen H, Watson S and Jilka S (2026) A hybrid implementation-effectiveness study of a school-based intervention for promoting health and well-being in low-resource settings: the ISOBAR study protocol. Front. Psychiatry 17:1823889. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1823889

Winsper C, Tuomainen H, Jilka S, Goutham S, Morroni D, Akpan U et al. How can school-based interventions improve physical and mental health outcomes in low-and-middle-income countries? An umbrella review and logic model. Psychological Review 2026; 125: 102727. doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2026.102727.

Rowland T, Winsper C, Morroni D, Appleton R, Tuomainen H, et al. The effect of managed transition on the proportion of young people transitioning from CAMHS to AMHS: Analysis of the Milestone Cluster Randomised Clinical Trial. Psychological Medicine (in press)

Williams N, Tuomainen H, Taylor J. Lost in The System: Rethinking Mainstream Mental Health Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Disability & Society, 2026; 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2026.2634347

Marcolini F, Magno M, Leone S, (…) Tuomainen H, et al. Bridging Perspectives: Clinician-Adolescent Agreement on Psychopathological Severity in the European MILESTONE Cohort. J Clin Psychol. 2026; 82(3): 317–329. doi: 10.1002/jclp.70073.

Magno M, Martella D, Leone S, (…) Tuomainen H, et al. Mental health trajectories of adolescents treated with psychotropic medications: insights from the European Milestone study. Mol Psychiatry 2026; 31 (1): 94-103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03307-3

van Bodegom LS, Gerritsen SE, Maras A, (…) Tuomainen H, Dieleman GC, Overbeek MM; MILESTONE consortium. Do young people get the mental healthcare they need? Trajectories of depressive symptoms, correlates and care pathways in a clinical sample of young people reaching the upper age limit of their CAMHS. J Affect Disord. 2025 Jul 15;391:119925. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.119925. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40675263.

Kular A, Tuomainen H, Majid M, Singh S. A Sikh Perspective into Psychotic Disorders: Understanding and Help-Seeking Among Lay People. BMJ Open 2025;15:e088168. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2024-088168

Palmer C, Kane J, Patterson P, Tuomainen H. Universal Mental Health Screening in Schools: How Acceptable is this to Key Stakeholders? A Systematic Review. J Child Fam Stud 2025; 34, 366–380. doi: 10.1007/s10826-025-03007-0.

Williams-Ridgway A, McGowan R, McNeil S, Tuomainen H. Eating disorders in minority ethnic populations in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK: a scoping review. J Eat Disord. 2025 Jan 14;13(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40337-024-01173-y.

Burn AM, Holland J, Roe J (…) Tuomainen H, Fung N, Wagner A, Morriss R, Sayal K. Impact of young people’s admissions to adult mental health wards in England: a national qualitative study. BJPsych Open 2025 Mar 17;11(2):e53. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2024.850.

Roe L, Holland J, Burn AM, (…) Tuomainen H, Fung N, Horton K, Wagner AP, Morriss R, Sayal K. Experiences and Impact of Psychiatric Inpatient Admissions Far Away from Home: A Qualitative Study with Young People, Parents/Carers and Healthcare Professionals. BMJ Mental Health 2024 Apr 25;27(1):e300991. doi: 10.1136/bmjment-2024-300991

Boonstra A, Leijdesdorff S, Street C, (…) Tuomainen H, Tomljenovic H, McNicholas F, van Amelsvoort T; MILESTONE Consortium. Turning 18 in mental health services: a multi-country qualitative study of service user experiences and views. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. Published online 2024:1-9. doi:10.1017/ipm.2024.5

Mensah DO, Tuomainen H. Eating alone or together: Exploring university students’ eating patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food and Foodways 2024;32(2),163–185. DOI:10.1080/07409710.2024.2333119

Tuomainen H, McGowan R, Williams-Ridgway A, Guy K, McNeil S. Protocol for a scoping review to identify research reporting on eating disorders in minority ethnic populations in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. BMJ Open. 2024;14(2):e075034. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075034, 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075034

Palmer C, Patterson P, Tuomainen H. 1945 Breathe education: developing an annual census of wellbeing in pupils from schools in Birmingham. UKBMJ Paediatrics Open 2022;6:doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2022-RCPCH.64

Ellard OB, Dennison C, Tuomainen H. Review: Interventions addressing loneliness amongst university students: a systematic review. Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2023;28(4):512-523. doi:10.1111/camh.12614, 10.1111/camh.12614

Appleton R, Gauly J, Mughal F, Singh SP, Tuomainen H. Perspectives of young people who access support for mental health in primary care: a systematic review of their experiences and needs. British Journal of General Practice 2022; doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2021.0335

Raja T, Tuomainen H, Madan J, Mistry D, Jain S, Easwaran K, Singh S. Psychiatric hospital reform in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of literature. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02075-z

Tuomainen H, Appleton R, Singh SP. Care transition from child/adolescents to adult services. In: Taylor E, Verhulst F, Nikapota A, Yoshida K, Wong JCM, eds. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide: Mental Health and Illness of Children and Adolescents.' Singapore: Springer 2020 May 08 http://springer.iq-technikum.de/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_50-1

Appleton R, Mughal F, Giacco D, Tuomainen H, Winsper C, Singh SP. New models of care in general practice for the youth mental health transition boundary. BJGP Open 2020;4(5): bjgpopen20X101133. Doi.org/10.3399/bjgpopen20X101133

External Roles

  • Associate Editor of Journal of Child and Adolescent Metal Health
  • Served as an expert reviewer for diverse research funding organisations including the Luxembourg National Research Fund (July 2025), ZonMw in the Netherlands (May 2025), Medical Research Foundation (May 2024), UKRI funding service (February 2024), Tryg Foundation (2022-2024).
  • Reviewer for numerous international mental health and public health journals