Dr Mairead Cardamone-Breen is a Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist with research interests in parenting, youth mental health, and online interventions. She has over 10 years’ experience in the development and evaluation of online parenting interventions for the prevention of youth mental health problems, with a focus on depression, anxiety, and related difficulties. Her research focusses on the Partners in Parenting (PiP) program – an international-first, transdiagnostic, online parenting program for the prevention and early intervention of adolescent depression and anxiety disorders. Since its development in 2014, the PiP program has been evaluated in two large randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in Australia, two national implementation trials, and is currently undergoing a large-scale open access implementation trial via headspace National. The program has also been adapted and undergone pilot clinical trials for several different clinical populations, including for parents of adolescents with emotionally-based school avoidance, suicide risk, and trauma, as well as a large RCT in the United Kingdom examining effectiveness as a targeted prevention program for parents of at-risk adolescents.

Mairead's current research projects include:

• Co-designing and evaluating the effectiveness of a digital parenting intervention with peer-coaching for parents of adolescents with emerging mental health problems

• Responding to adolescent school refusal with a novel online parenting intervention: Exploring the mediating role of parental factors

Mairead has worked in clinical practice as a psychologist in the public mental health system, working with young people and families experiencing severe and complex eating disorders. Her clinical interests include eating disorders, obsessive compulsive and related disorders, and child and adolescent mental health.

• Parenting
• Youth mental health
• Prevention
• Online interventions
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Adolescence