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Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST)

BESST is a large, national study testing the effectiveness of a day-long workshop programme called DISCOVER, for 16–18-year-old students experiencing low mood, stress or anxiety.

DISCOVER aims to improve engagement, offer effective treatment and maintain participants’ motivation and improvement to reduce relapse. 

The study is supported by King’s College London (KCL). It is taking place in multiple sites across England: London, the South West, the North West, and the Midlands. It will involve a total of 60 schools and colleges and 900 sixth form students.  

The study builds on prior research with over 100 students which proved there was sufficient interest from students to run this larger study. The next step is to investigate whether the workshop programme is effective in reducing participants’ stress and improving their wellbeing with larger groups of sixth form students in these areas before it can be offered more widely in the UK. 

There are several geographic hubs for BESST. The Evidence Based Practice Unit leads activity in North West England. 

Further information can be found on the KCL website

Funder: Department for Health and Social Care 

Duration: 2021–2023

Find out more about the Evidence Based Practice Unit