We are delighted that Professor Peter Fonagy OBE, National Clinical Advisor on Children’s Mental Health for NHS England, is supporting BRIT and championing our work to support young adult mental health throughout the UK.
Peter is Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College, London (UCL) and is Director of the UCL Partners Mental Health and Behaviour Change Programme.
Peter is also Chief Executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children & Families.
BRIT is striving to support young adult and student mental health and fitness by delivering annual BRIT Challenges. Every UK university and college are invited to take part and we are asking university Vice Chancellors and college Principals to embrace and promote the opportunity for their students and staff to enter teams and be part of an inclusive feel-good fundraiser.
We are doing everything in our power to support students and young adults by inspiring and encouraging them with our BRIT Ambassadors in order to improve their mental health and fitness. We are also working closely with other mental health charities who support students and young adults; through partnerships, fundraising or signposting.
BRIT are also collaborating with the charity, education and sport sectors. We are partnering, or entering special relationships, with governing bodies and asking Subject Matter Experts to support us with advice, guidance or by championing our work.
“BRIT continues to seek advice from subject matter experts and leaders to ensure the charity remains relevant and presents the strongest case possible for the need to support young adult mental health.
I fully support their vision to partner with education, sport and charity partners and deliver an annual UK-wide event to improve young adult mental health and fitness.
I am enthused by BRIT’s UK-wide approach of engaging every university and college to ensure students (and staff) have the opportunity to participate in their inclusive BRIT 2021 Challenge.
Groups who were already marginalised or disadvantaged are now likely to become more so and COVID-19 restrictions will continue to create significant lifestyle challenges in education, activity and socialising that will contribute to the mental health challenges faced by young adults.
I urge Vice-Chancellors and Principals to embrace this campaign and event that complements their existing student support and will both raise vital funds and improve young adult mental health and fitness.”
Professor Peter Fonagy OBE FMedSci FBA FAcSS Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Director, UCL Partners Mental Health and Behaviour Change Programme Chief Executive, Anna Freud National Centre for Children & Families
National Clinical Advisor on Children’s Mental Health, NHS England
University College London
The UCL Parters Mental Health and Behaviour Change programme are committed to improving health and care in mental health and deliver evidence-based solutions to address these pressing healthcare challenges for our population.
Their mental health and behaviour change programme supports the development of sustainable, high-impact solutions with a focus on:
children and young people
those with dementia and their carers
new ways of providing health care
integration between mental and physical health services
workforce diversity
For more information, please visit the UCL Partners website.
The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families believe that by working in collaboration with communities and professionals, that together they can scale up their support for millions of infants, children and young people and their families. They can do this by:
Research: providing an evidence base to identify effective interventions for children, young people and their families.
Clinical Practice: sharing their clinical expertise.
Training the workforce of tomorrow.
Developing policy.
They reach over one million children and young people through schools and colleges by providing trusted resources, training and supporting the workforce and researching how best to support pupils and students.
They nurture and protect children and young people by developing support for infants, children, young people and their families from conception to 25 by bringing together the best in science, research, policy and practice.
They are building a world-class workforce for the UK. Last year they trained over 8,000 mental health professionals and they currently have 330 post-graduate students. They develop resources based on their findings and sharing them through our learning networks.
For more information on their vital work, please visit; https://www.annafreud.org