Camilla Wasserman

I am a public health researcher with degrees in Anthropology and Health Sciences and a pedagogue. My research activities focus on youth and their mental health. I conduct qualitative reserach studies, some of which have been adjacent to larger epidemiological studies, develop mental health promotion interventions, and collaborate on program adaptation and evaluation. In all my work I set out to center youth, inviting their experiences and the meanings and vocabulary they attribute to events and everyday life to take center stage.

I am co-creator of the evidence-based mental health promotion program Youth Aware of Mental health (YAM) designed to empower youth in reflecting on mental health and developing problem-solving skills and solidarity through play and discussion with their peers.

I am currently heading Youth Play, a research project about mental health and leisure. This investigative effort aims to center youth and their real-life conditions through the exploration of leisure. The initiative seeks to illuminate the impact of meaningful leisure on youth mental health while identifying barriers that hinder access to meaningful free time. The Youth Play project fills a gap in mental health research by turning to a qualitative exploration of the leisure context and experience.

I recently developed a new educational curriculum for adult professionals who work with young people. The course centers youth experiences and supports adults in how to build trust with young people in order to create a better psycho-social environment for all. In the course, adult professionals will consider their positioning vis-à-vis youth through immersive exercises and role-play. The curriculum builds on Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed, experiential methods such as various kinds of role-play that explore mirroring, doubling, hidden thoughts, and the more surreal and burlesque potential of enactments, and here-and-now techniques.

I initiated Karolinska Institutet's first Network for Qualitative Researchers (KI-QUAL), an interdisciplinary and cross-departmental network with the goal to connect and facilitate collaboration between qualitative researchers at KI. Qualitative research is uniquely positioned to study lived experiences and to approach peoples' complex realities and health needs and though KI is a productive environment for qualitative research, inquiry is confined by department and often lives in the shadow of other forms of research. We are a new network but already have members from nearly all KI departments, spanning both KI South and North campuses.

Youth, Mental Health, Leisure, Mental Health Promotion, Qualitative Research