Liam (pictured) describes his journey from youth worker to public health researcher as ‘a happy accident’ and discusses the challenges and findings of his work, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He emphasises the need for inclusive school policies and staff training to support LGBTQ+ students, as well as the importance of capturing the voices of people with lived experience to refine academic knowledge.

Liam answers the big question: “If you had one message for our listeners to take away, what would it be?” Listen to the full episode now to find out more.

LGBTQ+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning. The "+" sign recognises the limitless sexual orientations and gender identities used by members of the community.

More about our guest

Liam Spencer is a Fuse Associate and Research Assistant based at Newcastle University, and a Mental Health Research Fellow for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC). Liam's work focuses on building capacity for children and young people’s mental health research in the region, through collaboration with practice partners and academic colleagues. He is currently undertaking a PhD by published works. Striving to establish himself as a trailblazer in this field of research, Liam plans to lead school-based work in the region, with a focus on developing inclusive school environments for marginalised youth.

About our host

Kamil is a Fuse public partner and is this episode's host. Kamil is originally from Poland and moved to England for work. He is a part-time student of software engineering and a self-employed Polish interpreter. Since 2018, he has been a lay contributor to medical research due to his lived experience of chronic conditions.

Resources and information

• Liam's Fuse blog
• NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) public mental health programme
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria
• Research paper: Reducing LGBTQ+ adolescent mental health inequalities: a realist review of school-based interventions
• Research paper: Understanding How School-Based Interventions Can Tackle LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health Inequality: A Realist Approach

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