{"id":2317,"date":"2026-05-27T10:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/?p=2317"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:01:27","slug":"from-single-session-interventions-to-scalable-mental-health-support-by-dr-jeffrey-lambert-associate-professor-of-health-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/2026\/05\/27\/from-single-session-interventions-to-scalable-mental-health-support-by-dr-jeffrey-lambert-associate-professor-of-health-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"From Single-Session Interventions to Scalable Mental Health Support, by Dr Jeffrey Lambert, Associate Professor of Health Psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"385\" height=\"80\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/NIHR-logo-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2321\" style=\"width:626px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/NIHR-logo-1.png 385w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/NIHR-logo-1-300x62.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>We have evidence-based treatments for common mental health problems, but existing systems for provision often cannot deliver timely support when young people need it most. Primary care, university wellbeing services and voluntary sector organisations are often the first places people turn to, but they cannot simply absorb unlimited demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This creates a pressing question: what can we offer when people need support now? NICE guidance for adult depression already recommends low intensity, with guided self-help as a first line option. However, guided self-help often assumes multiple sessions, some practitioner support, sufficient motivation and digital confidence. Our work in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bath.ac.uk\/projects\/spotlight-on-adolescent-and-young-adult-mood-problems-lamp-research-programme\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">spotLight for Adolescent and Young Adult Mood Problems (LAMP) group<\/a>, which I co-lead with Professor Maria Loades, focuses on two possible responses to this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first is digital single-session interventions (SSIs), which are intentionally designed to be useful in one encounter. This matters because many real-world contacts with support, especially self-guided digital support, are one-off. Systematic reviews show small but positive effects of SSIs across a range of mental health outcomes. While these effects are modest, the scalability of SSIs means they could still have meaningful population-level impact. One example we tested through LAMP is <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/39888663\/\">COMET, an online common-elements SSI for UK university students<\/a>. This work showed that SSIs can be acceptable and potentially effective but need to be co-designed with intended users. It also helped lay the groundwork for the <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/13591045261433857\">Action Brings Change (ABC-UK)<\/a> trial, a behavioural activation-based SSI for young adults that we are currently delivering through the<a href=\"https:\/\/bathmhrg.org\/\"> NIHR Bath Mental Health Research Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second strand <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s40501-025-00348-x\">concerns generative AI (GenAI).<\/a> GenAI is divisive among both users and health care professionals: some see it as a powerful route to more accessible and personalised support, while others worry that it could fundamentally undermine good clinical practice or introduce new risks. Whatever view we take, young people are already using tools such as ChatGPT for mental health-related support, whether or not services are ready for this. In our recent survey work, around one in four students reported using GenAI to support their mental health. Work led by our ESRC-funded PhD student, Noah Marshall, also suggests rapidly increasing global public interest in AI for mental health support. Our interest is not simply in building another chatbot, but in understanding how young people are using existing GenAI systems and whether we can support safer, more evidence-informed use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The direction of travel in the NHS 10-year plan is towards care that is more preventive, more digital and closer to the community. If we take that seriously, we need to think carefully about the forms of support that can sit before, alongside and between traditional services. SSIs and GenAI are not complete answers. But can they help us to make timely mental health support more useful, more accessible and less dependent on an already overstretched workforce?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find out more about our SSIs, including details of our RCTs, via our coproduced website, <a href=\"https:\/\/unlockwellbeing.org.uk\/\">https:\/\/unlockwellbeing.org.uk\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have evidence-based treatments for common mental health problems, but existing systems for provision often cannot deliver timely support when young people need it most. Primary care, university wellbeing services and voluntary sector organisations are often the first places people turn to, but they cannot simply absorb unlimited demand. This creates a pressing question: what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":989,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Single-Session Interventions to Scalable Mental Health Support, by Dr Jeffrey Lambert, Associate Professor of Health Psychology - Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/apex\/2026\/05\/27\/from-single-session-interventions-to-scalable-mental-health-support-by-dr-jeffrey-lambert-associate-professor-of-health-psychology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Single-Session Interventions to Scalable Mental Health Support, by Dr Jeffrey Lambert, Associate Professor of Health Psychology - Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have evidence-based treatments for common mental health problems, but existing systems for provision often cannot deliver timely support when young people need it most. 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