Supporting qualitative practitioner research in child and adolescent mental health

This editorial piece addresses the relationship between clinical practice and qualitative research in child and adolescent mental health. We outline some guiding assumptions informing the development of a practice orientated research ‘lab’ which focusses on child and adolescent mental health and child welfare research with ethnographic and psychosocial methodologies. We consider cascading effects of practitioner-initiated research, where skills and ambitions for a ‘bottom up’ research culture can help professionals embed research-minded practice in services. We also address the role of researcher and methodological reflexivity in research that is close to the social and emotional complexity of practice. We suggest ‘labs’ for such practice-near research generate opportunities for clinical ideas to be examined more effectively as they are resituated outside of the clinic for the purposes of research; furthermore such research can support critical awareness of the socially and historically contingent quality of methods and practices.