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Article History

Received: 13 January 2025

Accepted: 6 June 2025

First Online: 3 July 2025

Change Date: 13 October 2025

Change Type: Update

Change Details: The SAP file was not initially listed among the supplementary materials. We have now rectified this error.

Declarations

:

: Ethical approval was obtained from the Health Faculties Research Ethics Sub-Committee at Kings College London (ref: RESCM-23/24-36782). Written, informed consent to participant will be obtained from all participants. All potential participants will be provided with an information talk, information sheets and the opportunity to ask questions regarding the study. Participants will be given at least 24 h after receiving the information sheet to decide whether they would like to take part. For stage 1, informed consent for those that wish to take part will then be collected by researchers when visiting the school or college. For stage 2, a trained member of the research team will take written informed consent at the beginning of the first assessment meeting (see supplementary material). Parental consent will not be sought since all participants will be over 16 years old; however, we will follow each school’s recommendations for contacting parents and discussing participation. Examples of this might be contacting the parents by email or letter and providing information about the trial and the opportunity to contact the team and discuss the study. Informed consent for the qualitative study will be collected separately.

: Not applicable.

: VP, RTT, BC, JR, LDR, ML, SEB, BDD, SB, CC and PS declare no competing interests. RMS trains mental health professionals in the use of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapies for the treatment of PTSD, for which he sometimes receives payment. Unrelated to the current work, EAH receives funding from the Oak Foundation (OCAY-18–442) and Rannís The Icelandic Research Fund; is on the Board of Trustees of the MQ Foundation but receives no remuneration for this role; reports book royalties on the topic of imagery from Guildford Press and Oxford University Press, receives occasional honoraria for conference keynotes and clinical workshops related to imagery.