Principal Researcher / Consultant
Judy Corlyon
I am currently a Principal Researcher/ Consultant at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR), where I am responsible for our stream of work on children, young people and families. In addition to a previous spell at the TIHR, I have worked for many years in universities and children's organisations as a researcher on family policy.
My main areas of interest are parenting and parenting support, relationships between parents and children following divorce and separation, vulnerable children and young people and teenage parents. I have developed a wide range of research expertise in studies of these groups and in evaluation of the services designed to support them. Underpinning all of this work is a commitment to research that makes a positive difference to children and families.
At the moment I am leading a 5-year evaluation of Right Here, a programme jointly funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Mental Health Foundation which seeks to improve the mental health, well-being and resilience of young people aged 16 to 25 and to reduce the stigma associated with mental ill-health. I am also directing an evaluation of the Child Poverty Pilots for Separating Families, a government initiative which aims to contribute to reducing child poverty. This follows our Big Lottery funded research study, carried out with the Fatherhood Institute, into the ways in which mainstream services can support disadvantaged children and their non-resident parents.
I recently carried out a retrospective evaluation of Straight Talking, a programme which operates in schools and aims to demonstrate to 14 and 15 year-olds the reality of being a teenage parent, a topic which I continue to find very interesting: my colleague, Laura Stock, and I have produced a research review on teenage pregnancy for Community Care Inform. Other recent projects which I have led are on services for children whose parents are drug users, the role of the voluntary sector in supporting parents, an evaluation of the Parenting Fund, and a study of services supporting the parents of teenagers. I have previously been involved in research on the mental health needs of children in the child protection system, health and health promotion for young people, and residential care for children in other countries.
My activities outside the TIHR include involvement with Docklands Outreach, a charity supporting disadvantaged young people and their families in East London, of which I am currently Chair of the Board of Trustees
Recent publications include:
Corlyon J and Clay D (2009) A review of services for children and young people with drug-misusing carers. In MacGregor S (ed) Responding to Drug Misuse. Routledge.
Corlyon J and Gieve M (2009) The Effectiveness of Straight Talking: Listening, Hearing and Remembering.(Department for Children, Schools and Families, and Barking & Dagenham PCT).
Corlyon J and Stock L (2009) Teenage Pregnancy: A Research Review . Community Care Inform.
Corlyon J and Clay, D (2008) Voluntary and Community Sector Services: Their Role in Supporting Parents and Families. (Department for Children, Schools and Families)
