We're an education and research-led partnership creating focussing on practical ways to support young people's mental health, wellbeing, identity, and sense of belonging.
Rooted in empathy, creativity, and critical thinking, our work brings together teaching, psychology, and technology to explore how young people navigate complex social experiences, and how we can support them in doing so with confidence and compassion.
Former primary school teacher, now a university research associate, with a interest in immersive and interactive technologies for learning. Monty holds a BA in Economics, Politics and International Relations, a PGCE, and an MSc in Computer Science, with a background in educational technology research. This interdisciplinary training grounds his critical approach to education policy and practice. He is particularly interested in mental health and neurodiversity in education, and in developing practical policy changes and resources that better support young people in schools. His work also focuses on evaluation and critical appraisal, including examining school-based mental health interventions and their potential iatrogenic harms, especially for young people with severe mental health (SMH) conditions and neurodiversities.
Former mental health and special educational needs teacher, now a psychology researcher and lecturer. Catrin holds a BA in Philosophy, a PGCE, an MA by Research in Philosophy of Psychiatry, and a PhD focused on compassionate behaviour in young people with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). With a background in performing arts, Catrin brings a creative and interdisciplinary perspective to her work. Her interests centre on alternative and compassionate approaches to mental health, policy and system change, and on meaningfully involving lived experience in research design and practice.
"Athronydd" is Cymraeg for philosopher. Our partnership aims to encourage critical thinking, ethical reflection, and emotional insight among young people. We want to give young people the tools to think deeply about their social world and their place within it.
We are developing a bilingual, immersive digital resource for young people in Wales, supported by the Adnodd Innovation and Collaboration Fund. The project explores themes of belonging, vulnerability and identity through an interactive, branching-narrative experience, a choose-your-own-pathway scenario designed for VR headsets, immersive rooms or standard PCs.
Phase 1: Proof of Concept Phase 1 focused on developing and testing a working proof of concept. We successfully created a playable, interactive prototype, working closely with young bilingual actors from our local area to ensure authenticity of voice, language and performance. Alongside this creative development, we conducted a scoping review to ground the project in research and best practice. This review has now been published in the Journal of Mental Health & Digital Technologies, helping to situate the project within the wider evidence base for digital mental health and youth-focused interventions. You can read the published paper here: http://www.emerald.com/mhdt/article-pdf/doi/10.1108/MHDT-09-2025-0062/11087457/mhdt-09-2025-0062en.pdf
Phase 2: Co-creation with Young People In Phase 2, we are building on this foundation by working directly with local youth groups. Through a series of creative workshops, young people will help shape the language, scenarios and themes in the resource so they genuinely reflect real experiences and resonate with their lives. This collaborative approach ensures the resource remains relevant, credible and rooted in lived experience. We are incredibly excited to continue this work, deepen our community connections, and expand our collaborations across the region. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Adnodd for their Phase 2 funding, which is enabling this next stage of development.
Our Approach: Young people engaging with the resource will encounter challenging social situations and make decisions that influence how the story unfolds, highlighting how individual choices can affect both personal and community wellbeing. The resource does not aim to blame or moralise. Instead, it encourages understanding, empathy and reflection. Our work is trauma-informed and grounded in lived experience, with a strong belief in the power of storytelling to support emotional awareness and help young people navigate complexity with compassion.
We're grateful to Adnodd for supporting this work through their Innovation and Collaboration Fund.
We'd love to hear from you. Whether you're interested in collaboration, have a question about our work, or just want to learn more, feel free to get in touch.
Mental health, neurodiversity, education, immersive tools, policy & evaluation
monty@athronyddrc.comORCID ID: 0009-0008-7915-4964
Psychology, education, wellbeing, and research enquiries
catrin@athronyddrc.comORCID ID: 0000-0002-1109-4685
Not sure who to contact? Feel free to copy us both in, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
