Karima Chédia Viksten Assel

I am a medical doctor specialised in child and adolescent psychiatry, a PhD candidate in the EPiCSS research group at the Department of Global Public Health, and an expert coordinator in mental health preparedness at the Centre for Health Crises. There, I contribute to the centre's work with my experience of providing psychosocial and crisis support, as well as with experience of developing training programmes, writing knowledge support material, and collaborating with other community actors.

Previously, I worked as a consultant psychiatrist at Region Stockholm's Transcultural Centre, where I focused on strengthening healthcare professionals' capacity to respond to the mental health needs of refugees. I have also worked on humanitarian missions for Médecins Sans Frontières in the Democratic Republic of Congo and trained psychiatric staff in Tunisia.

In 2017, I was awarded Role Model of the Year from the resident doctors within the Swedish Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (SFBUP), for raising awareness of the mental health needs of unaccompanied minors.

My doctoral studies focus on developing and evaluating new interventions aimed at increasing newly arrived childrens' access to early psychological support within primary care. Within the TINA/ AMELIORATE project, I am evaluating the effects of community interventions designed to increase newly arrived children's use of mental healh care, including health communication to parents, and training for referring staff. In addition, using a quasi-experimental design, we are investigating whether the psychological assessment in primary care can be improved by integrating the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview. 

In the evaluation, we are using quantitative methods where register data is central. In addition, we evaluate the project using surveys and qualitative interviews. The knowledge produced is intended to strengthen mental health care for newly arrived children, other vulnerable groups, and children and young people in general. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council.

I have taught at Karolinska Institute's undergraduate medical program and master programs in Public Health Sciences and Public Health in Disasters. 

I have previously been responsible for specialist training for resident doctors in psychiatry. I have also developed training courses on migration, mental health and trauma, aimed at primary care, schools, social services and non-profit organisations.