We've spent over 75 years as a UK charity working at the forefront of mental health.
Our timeline below takes you through our history and the biggest changes we have achieved with your support.
1949
Derek Richter establishes the Mental Health Research Fund (The Fund) to address the imbalance in physical and mental health funding, and focuses on social circumstances and trauma in mental health.

1952
The Fund hosts its first major conference bringing together a range of perspectives on mental health.

1960
The Fund starts to use outcomes of its research to influence government health and social policies.

1973
The Fund merges with the Mental Health Trust to create The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) and grows to include structures for grant-making, policy – making and fundraising.

1974
MHF open a Scotland office in Glasgow.

1989
MHF amplifies the voice of people with lived experience of mental health problems. This includes setting up membership organisations and publishing reports working with service users in equal partnership for the first time.

1994
MHF uses social research to address mental health problems in the community instead of NHS clinical context.

1998
MHF innovates digital approaches to research young people’s mental health and pioneers evidence reviews for public mental health.

2001
MHF launches Mental Health Awareness Week. It brings awareness and action at scale and grows to be the biggest annual mental health campaign in the world.

2007
MHF launches the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival - it is the largest of its kind in the world and it is replicated internationally.

2009
MHF opens a Wales office in Newport, later moving to Cardiff.

2015
MHF focuses on prevention as the only reasonable answer to the scale of today’s mental health challenge.

2020
MHF starts a ground-breaking long-term UK-wide research study of how the COVID pandemic affected people’s mental health. We went on to fund a £2.5m response programme to help those most impacted.

2021
Following the death of George Floyd, MHF implements new commitments on race and diversity.

2022
MHF publishes a flagship report that sets out the economic case for prevention of mental health conditions across the UK. (

Support us
As we reflect on our achievements over the past 75 years, one thing is clear - our work is not yet done. We know that 50% of mental health problems are established before age 14 and that suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50 in the UK.
We need your support to continue making a difference.