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| Founded | 1949 [1] |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Charity |
| Headquarters | Studio 2 197 Long Lane London SE1 4PD [2] |
Region served | United Kingdom |
Chief Executive | Mark Rowland [3] |
| Website | www |
The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity, whose mission is "everyone deserves good mental health". [4]
The Mental Health Foundation was founded in 1949, as the Mental Health Research Fund, by Derek Richter, [1] a neurochemist and director of research at Whitchurch Hospital. Richter enlisted the help of stockbroker Ian Henderson, who became the chair, while Victoria Cross recipient Geoffrey Vickers became chair of the research committee.
In 1972, the Mental Health Foundation took its current name, shifting its "focus away from laboratory research and towards working directly with—and learning from—people [who] experience mental health problems."
Each year, for a week in May, the Mental Health Foundation leads Mental Health Awareness Week.
Mental Health Awareness Week was first held in 2001, and became one of the biggest mental health awareness events in the world. [5]
| Year | Themes |
|---|---|
| 2013 [6] | Physical activity and wellbeing |
| 2014 [7] | Anxiety |
| 2015 [8] | Mindfulness |
| 2016 [9] | Relationships |
| 2017 [10] | Surviving or thriving? |
| 2018 [11] | Stress: are we coping? |
| 2019 [12] | Body image: how we think and feel about our bodies |
| 2020 [13] | Kindness |
| 2021 [14] | Nature and the environment |
| 2022 [15] | Loneliness |
| 2023 [16] | Anxiety |
| 2024 [17] | Movement |
| 2025 [18] | TBC |
The green ribbon is the "international symbol for mental health awareness."
The Foundation's green ribbon ambassadors, include: Olly Alexander, Aisling Bea, Olivia Colman, Matt Haig, David Harewood, Nadiya Hussain, Grant Hutchison, Alex Lawther, and Graham Norton.
The movement uses the hashtag #PinItForMentalHealth. [19] [20]
The Foundation's total income for the financial year ending 31 March 2018 was £5.8m. [21]
The Foundation is an incorporated UK charity headed by a board of 12 trustees. Aisha Sheikh-Anene was appointed Chair of the board of trustees in 2020. [22]
The president of the Foundation is Dr Jacqui Dyer MBE [23] and the patron is Princess Alexandra.
The green ribbon can have a variety of symbolic meanings.
Beyond Blue is an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation. They provide support programs to address issues related to depression, suicide, anxiety disorders and other related mental illnesses.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a cardiovascular research charity in the United Kingdom. It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy and raising awareness.
Simon Francis Murphy is a British charity executive and former politician who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2004.
Rethink Mental Illness Is a British charity that seeks to improve the lives of people severely mentally ill people. Please read the google reviews for evidence of how they treat people.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), also referred to in the United States as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure.
Chris Underhill is an English social entrepreneur.
Action for Happiness (AfH) is a global movement and charity based in the United Kingdom. It aims to increase the happiness in the world by bringing together people and supporting them to take practical action to build a happier society. The patron of Action for Happiness is the Dalai Lama. The movement has over 270,000 members in 190 countries.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust (BCRT) is a charity dedicated to fighting primary bone cancer. The charity funds research, raises awareness of the disease, provides patient information, and provides support services. The charity operates internationally but is based in the United Kingdom, Charity Number 1159590, registered in 2006 in England and Wales.
The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales is an independent United Kingdom-based charity which supports the non-profit work of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Their projects revolve around conservation, environmental issues, early childhood development, mental health, emergency services, and homelessness.
Kathryn Felice Lampard, Baroness Lampard, is an English politician and former barrister.
Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2022 there were 5,642 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 15 suicides per day. 74.1% of suicides in England and Wales in 2022 were males. In Scotland there were 762 probable suicides in 2022, equating to an average of 2 suicides per day. In Northern Ireland there were 203 suicide deaths registered in 2022. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK.
Vikram Harshad Patel FMedSci is an Indian psychiatrist and researcher best known for his work on child development and mental disability in low-resource settings. He is the Co-Founder and former Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Co-Director of the Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions at the Public Health Foundation of India, and the Co-Founder of Sangath, an Indian NGO dedicated to research in the areas of child development, adolescent health and mental health. Since 2024, he has been the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, where he was previously the Pershing Square Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship in 2015. In April 2015, he was listed as one of the world's 100 most influential people by TIME magazine.
Natasha Jade Devon is a writer, campaigner and broadcaster. She has visited schools and colleges in the United Kingdom and around the world, including in Bangkok, The Hague, Shanghai, Kathmandu, Montreux and Taipei, delivering classes and conducting research with teenagers, teachers and parents on mental health, body image and social equality. She has also taken part in campus wellbeing programmes in British universities including Aberystwyth University and City, University of London, and was a trustee for the student mental health charity Student Minds between 2019 and 2023, although continues to support the charity in an advisory capacity.
Mental health in the United Kingdom involves state, private and community sector intervention in mental health issues. One of the first countries to build asylums, the United Kingdom was also one of the first countries to turn away from them as the primary mode of treatment for the mentally ill. The 1960s onwards saw a shift towards Care in the Community, which is a form of deinstitutionalisation. The majority of mental health care is now provided by the National Health Service (NHS), assisted by the private and the voluntary sectors.
Marcantonio M. Spada is an Italian-British academic psychologist, psychological therapist, and business executive.
Mermaids is a British charity and advocacy organisation that supports gender variant and transgender youth. It also provides inclusion and diversity training. Mermaids was founded in 1995 by a group of parents of gender nonconforming children and became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2015.
The British Record Industry Trust is a recorded music charity in the UK, established in 1989 by UK record labels. Its mission is to "improve lives through the power of music and the creative arts". It is directed by a team of trustees, led by Tony Wadsworth, who was appointed chair of The BRIT Trust in February 2021, taking over from John Craig.
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