Cheyann Heap – Trial Manager

Cheyann is the Clinical Trial Manager for the RAPID study on remotely-delivered psychosocial interventions for people with severe mental health problems.
Her academic background is in psychology at undergraduate and doctoral level, with her doctoral thesis focused on communication and personhood in dementia care. Cheyann also completed a post-doctoral Masters in Applied Human Rights, where she conducted research including: an assessment of the needs of women leaders in the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN); developing mental health resources for people in refugee camps with Health Equity Initiatives (HEI); and an LGBT+ wellbeing intervention based on Ncube’s (2006) Tree of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cheyann’s research focuses on supporting underserved groups using psychological and social interventions. This includes research with people experiencing psychosis, the LGBT+ community, older adults, refugees, and people in prisons. She also works at the level of service delivery, including research on community-based social prescribing, homelessness services, and a recent review on participatory mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries.
It’s her view that rigorous mental health research should support people in their ‘real lives’. Hence, she works across a range of methods including quantitative, mixed-methods, qualitative and participatory research. She also has a keen interest in including people with lived experience in research design and delivery.

In addition to research in NHS and community mental health settings, Cheyann has worked for several charities on rights-based international development projects. This includes children’s homes in Romania, disability rights in Bolivia, and youth employment in Cambodia. Cheyann also developed mental health and leadership training for the charity Voluntary Service Overseas.
In her spare time Cheyann enjoys running, reading, art galleries, and gaming. And generally, anything related to snacks.