Mental Health Foundation

The Mental Health Foundation was founded in 1949. It is a British charitable organization that provides information, carries out research, and campaigns to improve services for people affected by mental health problems. It now incorporates the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities.

Organization

The Chief Executive is Andrew McCulloch, appointed in 2002. He has described the main purpose of the Foundation as "to try to mainstream mental health as an issue so it is a core part of everything else".^[1]

The president of the Foundation is Sir William Utting CBE, and the Chairman of the board of trustees is Mike Shooter CBE. The patron is Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy.

Campaigns

The Mental Health Foundation campaigns raise awareness of mental health issues in the media and raise the profile of mental health in political and social agendas. The Mental Health Foundation's current campaigns include:^[2]

• Be Mindful - A campaign to promote the use of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for treatment of long term depression, as an alternative to prescribed medication.^[3]
• Research Mental Health - A joint venture with the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London to promote the importance of mental health research in the UK.
• Right Here - A five year project in conjunction with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which is aimed at 16- to 25-year-olds in the UK, and is focused on helping young people improve their mental health and reduce the chances of developing mental health problems in later life, as well as tackling the stigma attached to such problems.^[4]
• Mental Health Action Week- This is a nationwide annual event held each spring to raise awareness of various mental health issues. Topics have included^[5]: Fear (2009), Anger (2008), Friendship (2007), Alcohol (2006) and Exercise (2005).

Funding

The Foundation's annual report for 2007/8 reported total income of over £4 million, with the top sources being donations and gifts (individual and corporate) and legacies left by people.^[6]

See also

• Centre for Mental Health
• Mental Health Providers' Forum
• Mind
• Nacro
• National Mental Health Development Unit
• Rethink
• Richmond Fellowship
• Revolving Doors Agency
• SANE
• Stand to Reason (charity)
• Together
• Turning Point

References

External links

• Official website
• Be Mindful
• Research Mental Health
• Right Here