Michael Kaess is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Bern, Switzerland as well as the director of the University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bern in Switzerland. In addition, Michael Kaess heads a research section at the Center for Psychosocial Medicine at the University Heidelberg, Germany. Prof Kaess is an internationally renowned researcher in the field of adolescent risk-taking and self-harm behaviour as well as early detection and intervention of potentially underlying mental disorders such as borderline personality disorders and affective disorders.