SeNSS Overseas Institutional Visit to UCLA

By Chloe Chessell

SeNSS Researcher

Psychology, University of Reading

Picture of UCLA

 I visited the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 10th January 2022 to 1st April 2022.

Whilst at UCLA I was able to observe their Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorder programme which provides specialist assessment and treatment for children and young people with OCD, tic disorders, anxiety disorders, and body focused repetitive behaviours.

I was also involved with their Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support (CARES) community outreach work. This included running a series of workshops aimed at parents to help their children with emotion regulation known as Strong Together: Resilient Parenting. I also participated in meetings about community outreach, including how to use social media to educate college/University students about anxiety. I also participated in meetings where the CARES team designed and planned an online parenting workshop to educate parents on anxiety and how they can help if their child is struggling with anxiety. I also ran an outreach webinar on OCD in childhood and how this can impact families, where I presented some of my PhD research, which is available online here: https://carescenter.ucla.edu/childhood-ocd-webinar.

The OIV enabled me to participate in weekly post-doctoral research seminars. These seminars discussed skills in academic writing, grant applications, and featured external speakers. I also attended UCLA Grand Rounds – where leading researchers presented their work. Finally, I collaborated with Professor John Piacentini to analyse pre-existing datasets, which I will continue to collaborate on now the OIV has finished.

I would encourage other students to take part in an OIV as it’s a great opportunity to expand your research networks, to present your research to other teams, and to collaborate on new research projects linked to your existing work. It can also provide an opportunity to live abroad for up to 3 months, allowing you to explore a new country!

Should you wish to undertake an OIV be prepared that the trip will cost you more than you expect! Try to save up additional funds before you go to help cover some of the costs. Research the cost of living in the area to help with this (e.g. how much food costs from the supermarket etc.)

My biggest piece of advice, embrace being outside of your comfort zone. Try to connect with other researchers in the team whilst you are on your OIV. Living in a new place/country can also be daunting, but it’s helpful to try and put yourself out there to meet new people and find new friends!

Twitter: @ChessellChloe