Mental Health Research UK
On 28th January, Guild member Professor Clair Chilvers (1963), the chair and co-founder of Mental Health Research UK, visited College. Her charity is the UK's first dedicated to funding research into mental illness in order to develop better treatments with fewer side effects.
During the talk, Professor Chilvers described the initial processes of founding the organisation and the difficulties she experienced, which were mostly associated with finance. She spoke about the fact that there is limited financial support for mental illness despite the fact that one in four people experience a mental health problem each year, making it one of the most common health problems in UK.
As well as taking us through the fundraising process, Professor Chilvers gave us an overview of the organisation's PhD scholarships. Overall, this was a really informative and uplifting talk which raised our awareness of the issues associated with mental health problems.
Ivy (SFC1)