Dr Amina Al-Yassin

Dr Amina Al-Yassin is a General Practitioner in the NHS and with Barnardo’s, and the Strategic Clinical Lead for Children’s Services in the London Borough of Brent. She is deeply committed to improving the health and wellbeing of babies, children and young people (CYP), with particular expertise in child and adolescent mental health.

Dr Al-Yassin trained in both paediatrics (MRCPCH) and general practice (MRCGP), and completed a post-CCT fellowship in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) alongside a diploma in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. She is a core committee member of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Adolescent Health Special Interest Group and serves as the RCGP Lead College Representative for Children and Young People.

In her role as Strategic Clinical Lead for Children’s Services in Brent, Dr Al-Yassin works across health, local authority and voluntary sector partners to improve outcomes for children and young people. Her portfolio includes work across CAMHS transformation, childhood obesity, dental health, SEND, children with long-term conditions and safeguarding. She has a particular interest in developing integrated, community-based models of mental health support for young people.

Dr Al-Yassin is currently leading the development of LYRA, an innovative single point of access model for children and young people’s mental health support in Brent. LYRA brings together CAMHS, primary care, schools and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to create a more joined-up, accessible system of care for young people and families. Alongside this, she is working with partners to develop an open-access crisis café in Brent for children and young people, providing early help and safe community-based support outside traditional clinical settings. She is also leading the development of integrated mental health support within Child Health Hubs across Brent, helping to ensure that emotional wellbeing support is embedded within routine child health services.

Alongside her system leadership role, Dr Al-Yassin works as a GP with Barnardo’s, the UK’s largest national children’s charity, supporting its ambition to become a leading provider of integrated health and social care services for children and families. Her work includes helping to develop commissionable healthcare delivery models as part of Barnardo’s signature programmes.

Internationally, Dr Al-Yassin founded Hikayati, Iraq’s first centre focused on personal development, resilience building and mentoring for orphaned children. She also helped develop governance, supervision and training structures for a network of family mental health clinics across Iraq, including in rural and underserved areas.

Dr Al-Yassin is passionate about education, training and community empowerment. She holds an MSc in Medical Education and is a WHO FIDES Health Influencer. She is an accredited trainer for several programmes including Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), the Children and War Foundation’s trauma recovery interventions, and the Anna Freud National Autism Trainer Programme. She regularly delivers workshops and speaks at conferences for professionals, young people and families on child health, mental health and wellbeing.

Her work has been recognised with several awards, including the Imperial College Emerging Alumni Leader Award (2023) and the Empowered Women’s Network Outstanding Achievement of the Year Award (2023). In 2021 she was also a finalist for the Pulse General Practice Awards – GP Rising Star Award.