Emily Vicary (she/her)
@emdoesresearch
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📍Final year PhD researcher @FBMH_UoM 🧠 Interested in support networks, pets, mental health & self harm 🌱 Lived experience of bipolar & psychosis
Liverpool
Joined July 2021
1️⃣ New paper out in BMC Public Health! 🚀 We examined how students’ personal networks and perceptions of support are related to their #MentalHealth and help-seeking behaviours. Main takeaway? Feeling supported matters more than network size. 🔗 https://t.co/MyY5rMCLds
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On #WorldMentalHealthDay, remember that the world feels hostile and terrifying for those living with severe, complex mental illnesses. Our experiences often go beyond what’s relatable & so we are typically not extended the same empathy and advocacy as those with more common
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It’s #WorldMentalHealthDay 💙 We’re in Edinburgh for the first-ever MHP Research Summit 2025, bringing together researchers, clinicians & people with lived experience to advance understanding of severe mental illness. Follow for highlights! #MHPSummit2025 #MentalHealthResearch
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Thanks for following along! This is just the start. Stay tuned for our next paper, which turns to the lived experiences of students with mental illness — how they navigate, negotiate, and sustain support in everyday life. 🔗 https://t.co/MyY5rMCLds
#MentalHealth
bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com
Background Undergraduate students in the UK experience elevated rates of mental health difficulties but often face barriers to accessing formal support. Personal support networks – the friends,...
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8️⃣ Contribution to knowledge Among the first UK studies to test structural and perceived support together. Findings show that subjective perceptions of support availability are more influential for wellbeing — and help explain how networks shape the direction of help-seeking.
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7️⃣ Implications for universities Efforts to improve wellbeing should prioritise confidence in support availability and emotionally meaningful relationships. Large, diffuse “peer support” schemes may offer less protection than small-group belonging or mentoring that feels
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6️⃣ Finding 4: Help-seeking patterns Higher perceived support predicted greater willingness to seek informal help and lower willingness to seek formal help. Having access to many support types didn’t necessarily encourage help-seeking — diversity can sometimes mean fragmentation.
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5️⃣ Finding 3: The double-edged nature of large networks When perceived support was held constant, larger networks were associated with slightly poorer mental health. This could reflect social strain or reverse causality — distressed students expanding networks in search of help.
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4️⃣ Finding 2: Structure and perception are related but distinct Larger, longer-standing, and more diverse networks predicted higher perceived support. But once perception was included in models, structural features no longer predicted mental health. Structure may shape perception
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3️⃣ Finding 1: Perceived support outweighs structure Students who felt supported reported less severe symptoms of depression and anxiety, stronger intention to seek informal help, and weaker intention to seek formal help — regardless of how large or diverse their networks actually
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2️⃣ Why this matters Student mental health problems are widespread, yet “social support” is often treated as a single construct. We analysed both structural (network size, diversity, relationship duration) and perceived (belief that help is available) support — and their distinct
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Fantastic to be part of @BrainGenHub launch yesterday - working together towards improving diagnosis & understanding of bipolar & psychotic disorders. And realising our goal of making our research hub a true community
@BipolarUK @Adferiad_ Hub lead, Professor James Walters emphasised that current approaches to mental health diagnosis and treatment often result in a delay in receiving effective treatments and life-changing symptoms from medications. 💊 The Brain and Genomics Hub hopes to change that.
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What a day! Thank you to everyone who joined us for our launch ✨💙 @BipolarUK @Adferiad_ @ncmh_wales @CNGGcardiff @GW4Alliance @neurosciencecu @UniofBath @SwanseaUni @UniofExeter @BristolUniversi @UKRI_News @MHPlatform✨
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In Cardiff today for a very exciting project launch @BrainGenHub @BipolarUK 🧠🧬
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Lovely surprise to see our systematic review on student mental health and social support featured in @Forbes! Thanks to Dr Eric Wood for spotlighting how AI tools could reshape student peer support, with serious implications for mental health. 📖 Review:
tandfonline.com
Limited reviews address the role of social support for university students with mental health issues, despite its proven significance for other vulnerable groups.The current review aims to examine ...
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What a devastating ending to a vibrant day for our city. Phone signal is apparently spotty in Liverpool city centre but try & check on your loved ones ❤️
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I am currently completing a study in uni looking at emotional regulation in relation to age and gender. If you could spare a few minutes to complete the below survey, I would really appreciate if you could complete it and share 💕
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Let’s influence change in the NHS 💙 @CrisisCareAHH @CamhsSefton @Elsielrw @EDYSAlderhey @FreshCAMHS @YPASLiverpool @Comicsyouth @emdoesresearch @Seftoncarers @SFHalderhey @VCSefton @VenusCentre @LeanneWallker @PAPYRUS_Charity @3dadswalking @bethanydonaghy1 @Sams_Liverpool
Help build the #NHS of the future with @TheForumAH We are asking you to have your voice heard on how to make the NHS fit for children & young people. The findings will be collected & submitted to Government, so that your views are heard. Fill in our form: https://t.co/gIJ5tmPz8L
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We're recruiting veterans with co-occurring alcohol & mental health issues to share their treatment experiences. Help us understand barriers, facilitators & outcomes of treatment #Veterans #MentalHealth #Alcohol #Research please RT @CombatStress @FiMT_RC @kcmhr @changegrowlive
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