Programmes

Over the past two decades, the Mental Health Foundation has delivered a wide range of pioneering, evidenceinformed mental health programmes across the UK, often working with communities at higher risk of mental ill health. 

While we are no longer running programmes directly, the insights generated through this work remain deeply valuable. Here we bring together the evidence, learning and impact from our programme portfolio over the years

A group of people in a workshop

Our approach was to develop, prototype and demonstrate the effectiveness of prevention-focused community-based mental health programmes, with a view to embedding them in existing systems long-term. Insights from our programmes have also informed other aspects of our work, including our research, policy and public engagement activities.

Many of our programmes have also lead to the creation of resources which can continue to be used by people to look after their own mental health or support the people they work with. 

By sharing what we learned – what worked, for whom, and under what conditions – we aim to equip others with the evidence and insight needed to design effective, scalable and sustainable mental health support.

Highlighed programmes

Young boys at BAM

Becoming a Man

Becoming a Man (BAM) was a programme supporting young men aged 12 to 16 who face disadvantage and inequality that put them at greater risk of developing mental health problems.
Read about BAM
boy with his dog looking at the sea

Together to Thrive

Together to Thrive was a Dundee-based project taking a collaborative approach to improving the mental health and wellbeing of children with neuro-developmental needs.
Read about Together to Thrive

Young Parents Connect

Young Parents Connect was a peer support project for young parents up to 25 years of age.
Young mums and babies in a room

UOK?

UOK? was our programme working with colleges and universities to empower students to take their well-being into their own hands.
Students talking in at UOK? workshop

Creating Connections

Creating Connections was a project adding a focus on suicide prevention to our successful peer support model.
Photo of Mum holding baby

Key ingredients of successful mental health programmes

Through our programmes work, we identified a number of approaches which were proven to help people support their own mental health or the people around them. By using different combinations of these key ingredients depending on the context, we were able to take the lessons we learned through our wider programmes work and mental health research to create effective solutions that are proven to work.

Two older women outdoors in nature

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View completed programmes
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